<p>The local paper is all over them.</p>
<p>AAN is pretty brave! Questioning MI athletics is taboo. However, UM is not the only school that is giving its athletes a pass & saying otherwise. A nephew of a friend played basketball at a similar school and found the same situation AAN found at UM. Face it, college football/basketball are huge money makers. They are businesses that bring the school money, attention, prestige, future students, and alumni donations. They provide the best hope for their athletes to eventually make money from their sports (there are lots of overseas opportunities for the athletes who don't make the NFL/NBA). Is MI holding itself up as something it is not, as far as athletes & academics go? I am not sure many UM fans care, to be honest. And that is why it is the way it is.</p>
<p>"Is MI holding itself up as something it is not, as far as athletes & academics go? "</p>
<p>I would say definitely yes. I expect this from the FSU's and UNLV's of the world. Not UM.</p>
<p>I agree that certain schools are expected to be above this kind of behavior, including UM (I also think of ND, Duke, USC ...). Perhaps they just do LESS of this type of thing than some of the other schools? I don't know. I wish I could be less jaded, but I feel like it is this way everywhere. Many years ago, my cousin was a highly recruited football player. If what his father told mine was true, recruitment rules were routinely violated at some very top name colleges. Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to college sports.</p>
<p>Most students at UM know what the "pipe" classes are. In my day it was "Polish Literature in English" and "Maternal and Child Health Care" aka "Marriage."</p>
<p>The problem isn't so much that the classes exist, but the "steering" component of the story.</p>
<p>I thought the comment from Jim Harbough was funny - I knew him (not well but he dated a sorority sister of mine) in school and he wasn't the brightest in the bunch - maybe they told him not to major in history for a reason!</p>
<p>In football and certain other sports, schools like UM routinely plan to compete for the national championship.</p>
<p>The regrettable truth is that some fields of study are incompatible with being an important team member in those programs.</p>
<p>One of my teammates in a nonrevenue sport was recruited by both Penn State and Michigan State. In both cases, when he indicated that he intended to study electrical engineering, his hosts (athletes) told him he'd have to go to summer school.......there was too much to do in season to allow the academic schedule that would be demanded. And at our school, he missed a practice each week junior year because there was an advanced physics lab that met at practice time. Not too many DI coaches would be OK with that. </p>
<p>Given that its hard to find a large intersection of ultra elite athletic ability and upper 10% academic capability, its not surprising that other fields of study spring up to serve a purpose.</p>