<p>As an FSU alumnus this is extremely embarrassing. The things that occur so that the best athletes can be university students. Obviously some go too far, but they hurt the institution in the process. </p>
<p>I hope the next university president can restore the public trust in the oldest school in Florida. </p>
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[quote]
The same institution that last year boasted of football player Myron Rolle's Rhodes Scholarship admitted athletes who couldn't read beyond the second-grade level and needed intensive help to complete academic assignments. When even that wasn't enough, FSU employee-sanctioned cheating followed. The university's academic integrity, not its football team's won-loss record, should be at the front of the board of trustees' agenda.
<p>I’m shocked to hear you be critical of FSU, but I must stand up for your school. College football and academics are Bullshiz. Every top program in the nation has players that have no business being on a college campus. I love college football but I can’t think of anything run by bigger phonies. OK OK maybe Washington.</p>
<p>^^I hear what you are saying navarre1, but I think that there are many shades of grey. Schools like Georgia Tech, Wisconsin and Notre Dame (lately) set higher standards for their football players. While they bend the rules to accommodate some players, you can bet that there is not a lot of wiggle room. It is no wonder that they can’t sustain consistent winning, but they are competitive. And, in the end, that is what is most important. </p>
<p>I thought, when FSU joined the ACC, that the folks in Tallahassee had made the commitment to a higher academic standard. Hopefully, this awful news will push FSU to hire a high caliber president to elevate the institution to the next level.</p>
<p>No college should ever admit a student-athlete the college isn’t reasonably confident has the potential to earn a degree. Many scholarship athletes admitted to college, particularily in big time basketball and football programs, are not the strongest students; but they should have at least some minimum academic skills that will get them through college. The colleges need to be willing and prepared to assist these students with academic support with the goal of an honestly earned degree.</p>
<p>FSU and most other colleges have in the last few years examined and made changes in their athletic depts. after some of the recent scandals and shortcomings at different colleges. One of the wisest and most effective moves is not allowing athletic depts. to call most of the shots about student-athletes academic wise. Now, the academic depts. are deciding eligibility issues etc. for athletes, independent of the athletic depts. For example, many colleges now have academic committees that review the academic skills of prospective athlete recruits coaches are considering offering scholarships. If the academic committee doesn’t okay the student after reviewing his tests scores, grades, etc.–the coach can’t have him on the team. What’s frustrating is seeing a prospect denied by the committee end up playing at a competing college-even in your own athletic conference!</p>
<p>Attached is an article about some of the things USF is doing with student-athletes and academics, not to single out USF, but just as an example of some of the things colleges are doing now trying to make things better . FSU isn’t the only college with problems in athletics, most colleges with big time sports face the same issues. Talking about and recognizing the problems is a big first step to improve things for everyone.</p>
<p>IMHO it will always be a joke till football players are put into the applicant pool with everyone else and he who is admitted plays and he who doesn’t stays home. I would bet money that more than 3/4 of any division one schools football players would not be admitted if not for their athletic abilities.</p>
<p>Not everyone is the same. Dancers, singers, musicians have talents often allowing them admission to college, even if they are less than average students. Talented athletes are sought by colleges, even with poorer academic credentials. Even students with little money are admitted to college with the help of financial aid. If everyone at FSU was a rocket scientist, the school would be pretty boring and it would be difficult to fill the 80,000 seats at Doak Campbell Stadium. It is however wrong for anyone to cheat on exams, or allow a student with only 2nd grade level reading skills in college if he has no chance of graduating.</p>
<p>The worst part was that the very person who should have enforced standards enabled the cheating. Maybe that person felt sorry for the students? Another question that comes to mind is that how did such students earn a qualifying score on the SAT or ACT? If the students are from Florida, how did they pass the standardized high school testing?</p>
<p>I also agree that this goes far beyond FSU.</p>
<p>Attached is a copy of the transcript of the NCAA meeting. Dr. Monk’s job seemingly was to keep the student-athletes academically eligible, even at the expense of the college’s academic integrity. She didn’t seem to prioritize the enforcement of standards, and she wasn’t feeling sorry for the students. Dr. Monk wasn’t an inexperienced student assistant, she was a professional who should have known what she was doing.</p>
<p>I am officially bowing out of this thread after sticking my nose too far into the subject. The whole deal is too complicated for me. Dr. Monk is now suing the college for defamation, everyone is appealling the NCAA rulings, the student-athlete with the 2nd grade level reading skills has an IQ of 145 according to Dr. Monk. This thing is a handful.</p>