A gathering of reactions to the Ann Arbor News' investigation into questionable academic practices at Michigan's athletic department:New York Times
This could be a huge blow to the reputation of Michigan, a university that fancies itself as a model for both academics and athletics. On the surface, this appears to be significantly worse than what Auburn did ...
... It doesn't help things here that both the president and athletic director refused to comment. For N.C.A.A. sanctions to occur here, one of the big things that would have to be proven is lack of institutional control. The college twice investigated the professor, John Hagen, and didn't find anything.
... It doesn't help things here that both the president and athletic director refused to comment. For N.C.A.A. sanctions to occur here, one of the big things that would have to be proven is lack of institutional control. The college twice investigated the professor, John Hagen, and didn't find anything.
Every Day Should Be Saturday
The details shouldn't shock, even for an august academic institution like Michigan. We're more than comfortable with the notion that BCS grade college football is at its core a professional sport operating under the aegis of academic institutions. What is–oh, just piquant, we tell you!–is that we get to tell Jim Delany to dine on poo, because his conference's flagship athletic/academic titan, doing it "the right way," has to resort to the kind of academic funneling done at legendarily accomodating schools like Auburn or USF.
The Wizard of OddsMichigan football players have found a new path to academic success. In 2003, a year after changes to the sport management major were approved, general studies surpassed sport management as the most common academic path for Wolverine players.
Day two of a four-part series by the Ann Arbor News revealed that general studies was the chosen academic path for 38 of the football team's recruited scholarship players in 2004. General studies is a relatively unstructured degree program that has no foreign language requirement and allows students to take classes in a broad range of disciplines.
Day two of a four-part series by the Ann Arbor News revealed that general studies was the chosen academic path for 38 of the football team's recruited scholarship players in 2004. General studies is a relatively unstructured degree program that has no foreign language requirement and allows students to take classes in a broad range of disciplines.
College Football Talk
The reaction from Michigan fans will no doubt be some combination of "no one cares" and "everybody does it." But the hypocrisy of Michigan's administration, which portrays itself as above such academic shenanigans, is stunning. Michigan goes out of its way to attack people like Harbaugh, who dare to question its academic standards. But the News series shows, clearly, that Harbaugh was right.
MGoBlog
- Athletes work harder than just about anyone at a university.
- There is a giant sports entertainment industry in this country.
- There are many not so bright people at the U getting undergraduate degrees in deliberately unchallenging majors; the intent of research 1 universities is to shovel a ton of students through cheaply and use their tuition to build particle accelerators.
- We should stop pretending that something as hugely important to so many people as sports are can't be a valid field of study.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-17-2008 @ 9:11PM
Dirk said...
The wheels are coming off at U of M...Next we may hear the "S" word (sanctions) or the "P" word (probation) from the NCAA.
The school that gave us the worst violation in NCAA basketball (Or any NCAA sport...Thank you Chris Webber and the rest of the Fab 5) may be on the verge of adding their football team to the ever growing list of U of M (Yellow and Blue) Wolverweenie teams that have been caught cheating.
I wouldn't pull for the "wolverweenies" if they played Osama Bin Laden.
Can't wait for the day they get on the same field with LSU or any other SEC team...We salivate just like OSU does at the thought of playing them.
The Yellow and Blue Wolverweenies cheat...Those of us that hate them have always known that...Now the rest of the intelligent world does...Soon the unintelligent world (their fans) will realize it too!
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3-17-2008 @ 11:03PM
Chris said...
Dirk, You ignorant Spartan and/or Buckeye, you should try reading the friggin articles before you comment. There are exactly ZERO NCAA violations here.
Reply
3-18-2008 @ 3:31PM
Hugo Chavez said...
How exactly is this a scandal? What has Michigan been caught doing that is illegal when the school itself has investigated this TWICE and found nothing? Yes, it's definitely not something that normal students partake in but it's not a scandal.
Reply
3-18-2008 @ 8:21PM
Dirk said...
Chris,
Perhaps it is YOU who should read the article...Lack of institutional control could lead to sanctions.
There an obvious lack of institutional control here.
Also, neither MSU or OSU are my favorite team though I pull for both of them when they play the Michigan Wolverweenies...I'm an SEC fan and an LSU alum.
YOU didn't read the article with any understanding...I guess there weren't enough pictures to help you grasp it...You also assumed I was from MSU or OSU...Wrong, wrong and wrong.
Wrong, wrong and wrong...As usual...Typical "Yellow and Blue" fan.
GEAUX TIGERS!
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