By Michele Richinick
In a time when many students have expressed concerns about the level of their academic advising, there remains at least one segment of the undergraduate population getting the personalized advising many students crave: athletes.
“There are a different set of circumstances for student athletes than there is for the general population of the university,” said associate registrar David Thornton.
The Office of Student Athlete Support Services (SASS) aims to help students athletes “develop and enhance the skills necessary for athletic, academic and personal growth and success,” according to a brochure about the program. The office offers student athletes mentoring programs, special places to study and advising.
It is necessary for the 478 student athletes to have specialized services primarily because of the unique challenges their schedules create, taking into account practices and traveling periods, Thornton
“Their hours are different most times, there are a lot of early morning practices and a lot of late night competitions on a very routine basis,” he said.
SASS is overseen by the Registrar’s office, said Athletics Director Peter Roby in an e-mail to The News.
Thornton said the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) require universities to provide services to ensure student athletes are successful off the field.
“The NCAA set standards for teams as far as graduation of their student athletes to meet, and if a team or a school falls short of that mark, there are penalties,” he said. “So it’s in the school’s best interest to make sure their student athletes are successful.”
At least one of three people working in the office is available later in the afternoon to assist students coming off the field from late practices.
He said the traditional academic advisor is at home by 4:30 p.m. or 5 p.m.
“It’s a big component to have that kind of flexibility and that kind of person involved in the student athlete services,” he said.
Anthony Orio, a senior biochemistry major and football player, said although the athletic academic advisors are crucial to helping student athletes balance hectic practice schedules with class times, athletic advisors had another advantage over the traditional college-based ones.
“Probably just the relationships [are different],” Orio said. “You probably see the advisors in the athletics department on a daily basis, so you develop closer relationships.”
Brianna Seitz, a middler graphic design major and women’s volleyball player, agreed that the personal attention and a smaller number of students to look out for make the athletic advising unique.
“I think the college advisors have so many people that it’s not really personalized,” she said. “They don’t know you, whereas the athletic advisors do.”
Some students classified the traditional college advising as average.
“I generally think it’s OK,” said McCall O’Malley, a senior international affairs major. “I think you have to put in some effort to get good advising.”
Jim Stellar, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said academic advising is “critical,” and something the college constantly works to improve. He recently sent a survey to all College of Arts and Sciences students in order to get feedback for its advising services.
“There’s 6,700 students, so we can’t get them all right all the time, and we’d like to,” he said. “So we survey every once in a while to see how we’re doing.”
While Ken Lewis, a freshman political science major, does not begrudge student athletes for their specialized advising, he said he would like to see an expansion to include all students.
“I can see that it makes sense because they have to balance school and athletics, but maybe if they were going to expand the advising program, they should include other students, so it’s not only the athletes,” he said.
