Curriculum Action Notice

From:

Academic Affairs Committee

Date:

April 13, 2004

This is a bulletin from the Academic Affairs Committee concerning proposed curricular actions. Please forward any comments or concerns in the next 10 days to the AAC chair, Flor Blanco, Belknap Hall 110A, Ext. 4604, fblanco@mnsfld.edu.

The Athletic Advisory Committee has proposed the following action:

Advanced registration for student-athletes

The Athletic Advisory Committee recommends advanced registration for student-athletes. By granting advanced registration this would permit student-athletes to register one day prior to the start of registration. By registering first this has the potential to positively impact the academic progress of our student-athletes. Student-athletes are recruited to attend Mansfield University on athletic scholarships and awarded varying amounts of scholarship dollars to represent Mansfield University by competing on various teams. In addition to athletic scholarship student-athletes are often awarded room jobs, which require an additional eight hours of time devoted to various responsibilities within Residence Life, and work study jobs throughout all areas of campus an additional eight hours per week. These additional responsibilities are all in an effort to entice student-athletes to attend Mansfield University. This allowance of advanced registration should not been seen as preferential treatment for student-athletes but merely an increased opportunity to succeed academically and athletically at Mansfield University. This is a practice a vast majority of colleges and universities engage in for their student-athletes. This could be viewed as a potential to enhance the recruiting efforts of our athletic department and make us more equitable compared to other Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Schools. We are recommending that student-athletes be allowed to advance register only for the term in which they will be considered in-season, i.e. football would advance register in the spring for the fall term, baseball in the fall for the spring term.

The following are some of the potential academic benefits to be gained by our student-athletes:

• Selection of courses at times to minimize the frequency of absences due to competition
• Ability to maximize use of time to attend practice, treatment and team meetings without sacrificing academic preparation and other responsibilities including total engagement in the campus community - student-athletes have an obligation to their respective sports while representing Mansfield University.
• Maintain steady academic progress and avoiding unnecessary delays in graduation due to the availability of course offerings in an attempt to graduate within four years while on athletic scholarship.
  • Gates
  • Student teaching assignments

The estimated number of students pre-registering would be less than 8% of the student population thus having minimal impact on the student-body at large.

Numbers by Semester

Rationale:

1. Student Athletes are recruited to represent Mansfield University, get a degree in four years, and want to attend class.
2. Gives best opportunity to Student Athletes to not miss classes for away competitions.
3. Advanced Registration would help retention through better class attendance and time management.
4. Advanced Registration would allow Student Athletes to meet gate challenges easier (i.e., education).
5. Makes recruitment equitable (most PSAC schools have advanced registration).
6. The registration process would not change, student athletes would continue to work with their advisor.