<p>Notre Dame has the highest athlete graduation rate in higher education, most years. Hopefully this won’t change. Notre Dame has not been one to compromise academic excellence for sports, despite its iconic sports status, and I certainly hope this isn’t changing.</p>
<p>That said, I don’t see much justification for the article’s claim, other than the reinstatement of a single football player. There isn’t any evidence, that I see, of admissions criteria being lowered, the incoming sports students being academically inferior, or anything of the like. There is, however, evidence that the academic criteria for admission to the university is on the rise. Approximately a third of EA acceptances go to recruited athletes (the bulk of recruitment acceptances), and another 15% to legacies, and yet the EA accepted student stats are higher than the RD accepted student stats.</p>
<p>This should be an article about how a football player awaiting trial for a DUI should be suspended. Tacking on unsubstantiated and unclear sweeping claims of “academic standards lowering” is downright ridiculous. I agree with the fact that disciplinary standards should be enforced; little else of what this article claims is true.</p>