Stop the Jock Bashing

As a defensive lineman for the 1982 Ivy League Championship football team (H-45, Y-7) I am appalled that Athletic Director Bob Scalise, at the “request” of a group of Ivy League university presidents, is considering reducing the number of admitted athletic recruits to the College.

It is unclear what rational academic purpose could be the motivation behind such an ill-conceived scheme other than pure “jock bashing” and anti-athlete bigotry.

Athletes at Harvard have always been treated like second-class citizens by the administration and faculty, all the way down to the non-athletic student body. How many times have the Harvard athletes overheard classmates mutter “Oh, he just got admitted to the College because he plays football” or “Look at the dumb jocks grazing like cattle” as they congregate together in the dining hall?

Now the administration has decided to “pile on” with their own brand of institutional bias against Harvard athletes in the name of admission purity. Why? Because some other colleges have already done so. Since when does Harvard follow Princeton, let alone Amherst, Williams and Bowdoin?

To compare Harvard athletes with their counterparts at “jock schools” is erroneous. Unlike their athletic brethren at “big-time jock factories,” Harvard athletes make a conscious choice to forego “alumni freebies,” athletic scholarships and hero worshipping students for the right to gain a decent education and the opportunity to passionately compete in sports.

Most importantly, Harvard athletes choose Harvard because they wish to be treated equally with their fellow classmates; all Harvard athletes are students first and athletes second.

The administration should start showing some respect to those men and women who represent the school on the athletic playing fields. Do not demean their personal sacrifices by paying lip service to “competitiveness” while simultaneously reducing athletic recruiting for their teams. Honor their commitment to Harvard and their desire for excellence by supporting their goals for collective school victory on the fields of varsity competition.

University President Lawrence H. Summers should venture out of his Massachusetts Hall office and jog across the Charles to Dillon Field House. If he is lucky, maybe he will learn the importance of Harvard athletics to his student-athletes. If he rolls back athletic recruiting then he ought to be prepared to deal with significant and organized reduction in alumni donations.

William A. Holley ’83 is an attorney in West Hartford, Connecticut.