AN OXYMORON

How many times have you heard the term "student-athelete" used by colleges and universities to describe their football or basketball players? Lots of times, I'll bet. Student-atheletes? That's an oxymoron if there ever was one. If you're enrolled in a college or university which depends on income from football and basketball to fund certain programs, you're either a student or an athelete, not both.

I know what I'm talking about because I was the proctor of the athletic dorm at the university where I received my degrees. Many of the atheletes were good friends of mine. Some of them could not spell "cat" if you spotted them the "c" and the "t." Those guys were able to maintain their scholastic eligibility by enroolling in a whole bunch of one-crdit-hour physical education activity courses, which they never had to attend and for which they received all "A"s. That kept their grade point average high enough to offset the flunking grades they got in English, Math, Science, etc.. Of course, most of them never managed to graduate.

In his December 10th column in TownHall.com, "The High Cost of Favoritism," Thomas Sowell described some of the other ways athletes receive special treatment so they can remain elibible to play football and basketball. His column was inspired by O. J. Simpson's robbery conviction and dealt with the consequences of the favoritism shown atheletes. Sowell asks, "What could have led him (Simpson) to take reckless chances that risked it all, whether in California or in Nevada?" And he also asked, "Why would star quarterback Michael Vick have risked a multimillion dollar career for the sake of staging dog fights?"

Here are some more exerpts from Sowell' column:

".........star athletes in certain sports seem to be especially prone to regard rules as not applying to them.

It is not hard to see why. Those who star in sports that are big in educational institutions-- football and basketball being classic examples-- can start having the rules bent in their favor as early as high school.

Everyone wants a winning team and bending a few rules for those who can make that happen may seem like a small price to pay. At colleges and universities where football or basketball are big time, ensuring passing grades for players on those teams is a major priority.

This can take the form of having special academic advisors to help college athletes maintain grade averages sufficient to keep them eligible to play. These advisors are often separate from those advising other students with their academic work, and have their offices in separate buildings, just as the athletes themselves are often housed separately from other students.

The idea that college athletes in big-time sports that attract thousands of fans to a stadium, and millions of viewers on television, are just students who happen to play a game is belied in many ways.

Players on Division I football teams spend an average of more than 40 hours a week on their sport. That does not leave a lot of time for academics.

This can lead to athletes being steered to easier courses or courses taught by faculty members who give them a special break. From time to time, grade-changing scandals have erupted from a zeal to keep some star player eligible to play.

In ways large and small, star athletes in big-time college sports learn early in life the cynical message that rules apply to other people. This special treatment can be found even in the Ivy League, where sports are not supposed to be as big a deal as in the Big Ten.

Perhaps the wonder is not that a number of stars in professional football and basketball develop an attitude that they are above the rules, and even above the law, but that others do not."