Athletes Air Concerns to UC

Captains from many of Harvard’s major sports teams met with Undergraduate Council (UC) representatives and College administrators yesterday evening for a “Captains’ Consortium,” which addressed topics ranging from difficulties facing student athletes to athletic advising and school spirit.

The meeting represented the first time a conversation about issues facing student athletes had been undertaken by such a widely representative group, according to a student representative from the Standing Committee on Athletic Sports, Giuliana Vetrano ’09, who served as the night’s moderator.

The first comment of the night—in response to a question by Vetrano about the primary difficulties facing Harvard athletes—came from golfer Jacqueline M. Rooney ’07, who pointed to inconsistencies in the flexibility of Teaching Fellows regarding athletes’ schedules.

Subsequent discussion turned everywhere from the failure of designated dining hall and tutorial hours to accommodate practice schedules, to the concern of varsity sailor Margaret M. Wang ’09 that club—and certain varsity—sports are underfunded and athletes are often forced to reach into their own pockets to meet training costs.

In attendance at the event were Assistant Dean for Student Life and Activities Paul J. McLoughlin II and Associate Dean for Residential Life Suzy M. Nelson.

McLoughlin said that the most feasible opportunities for improvement that emerged from the meeting included increased advertisement of sporting events and easier means of purchasing tickets.

Still, he said, “the best I can sort of do is to convey [the concerns]; a lot of this has to come from the department of athletics.”

During the discussion, several athletes also expressed a need for better academic advising for student athletes.

“Coaches—at least the rowing coaches—have no idea how the mind of a professor works,” said lightweight crew Captain Nicholas S. Downing ’07, adding that the athletic department needed to be more proactive in designating a point person for advice on academic issues.

For a representative from the men’s rugby team, which is not recognized as a varsity team and is therefore not attended to by the athletic training staff, the primary concern was his team’s physical well-being.

“We average like eight concussions a season, and it’s just dangerous not to have access to trainers,” he said.

“I’ve seen like five of you in [UHS] at once,” Vetrano, the moderator, agreed.

With regard to spectators and school spirit, suggestions included a prominent link to the Harvard athletics Web site and game schedules on the my.harvard portal, as well as a UC-sponsored shuttle service to get people across the river to big games.

UC President Ryan A. Petersen ’08, who was in attendance along with Vice President Matthew L. Sundquist ’09, attested to the difficulty of delivering on the latter option.

“It’s hard for us because we can’t ever have a failed event or shuttle service, because then that’s all anybody ever talks about,” he said, adding that the Council could “not afford, public image-wise” to get behind such a measure.

Although representatives of the athletic department were invited, none was in attendance, said Vetrano, who is also a Crimson photography editor.

“The fact that the athletic department wasn’t here is representative of the distance caused by their affiliation with FAS rather than the College, and that’s just structural,” she said.

—Christian B. Flow can be reached at cflow@fas.harvard.edu.