Spring Break
SJSU athletes hitting the books with force
John Hornberg
Issue date: 5/13/09 Section: Sports
Last year, the football team, men's soccer team, and men's cross-country team all had reductions in the number of scholarships and practice time, Fan said. Along with those teams, the men's basketball team and baseball team had reductions in scholarships.
SJSU is not at risk of facing penalties from the Western Athletic Conference for academic issues. Anthony Archbald, the conference's assistant commissioner for compliance, said the conference does not impose additional penalties for APR violations beyond the NCAA's.
He said the conference's universities have shown improvement since the academic progress ratings were first instituted, and are doing the best to compete with the resources each university has on hand.
"I think with any program you're implementing that's trying to create this dramatic culture change, the program has to have some teeth, or some incentives and disincentives," Archbald said. "I think that (the APR program's) system of incentives and disincentives are strong enough to create that change."
One student, Jaclyn Garrison, said she thinks the university's sports teams should be in better academic standing.
"I think, if they have a scholarship, they should keep their academic standing," said the senior communicative disorder major. "Especially because the state is paying for (their) education."
Another student agreed.
"They should be penalized," said Andy Romero, a sophomore kinesiology major. "Why are you in school? It's not all about sports."
But Lawrence Fan gave a more optimistic view.
"There's significant upward progression," he said. "To say that all 16 teams were above the benchmark, this is the first time that that has been the case. This most recent report is precedent-setting, and there's every reason to believe that this year's precedent will continue."
Ryan Buchan contributed to this report.
SJSU is not at risk of facing penalties from the Western Athletic Conference for academic issues. Anthony Archbald, the conference's assistant commissioner for compliance, said the conference does not impose additional penalties for APR violations beyond the NCAA's.
He said the conference's universities have shown improvement since the academic progress ratings were first instituted, and are doing the best to compete with the resources each university has on hand.
"I think with any program you're implementing that's trying to create this dramatic culture change, the program has to have some teeth, or some incentives and disincentives," Archbald said. "I think that (the APR program's) system of incentives and disincentives are strong enough to create that change."
One student, Jaclyn Garrison, said she thinks the university's sports teams should be in better academic standing.
"I think, if they have a scholarship, they should keep their academic standing," said the senior communicative disorder major. "Especially because the state is paying for (their) education."
Another student agreed.
"They should be penalized," said Andy Romero, a sophomore kinesiology major. "Why are you in school? It's not all about sports."
But Lawrence Fan gave a more optimistic view.
"There's significant upward progression," he said. "To say that all 16 teams were above the benchmark, this is the first time that that has been the case. This most recent report is precedent-setting, and there's every reason to believe that this year's precedent will continue."
Ryan Buchan contributed to this report.
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