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Building Bridges Across Towerview

New Athletic Council attempts to improve relationship between athletics, academics

Academic coordinator T.J. Grams talks with soccer players Zack Pope and Mike Grella in the athletic study area in the Schwartz-Butters Athletics Center

When President Richard H. Brodhead, Duke faculty members and athletics officials initiated an effort to break down barriers separating academics from athletics on campus, one of the first places they started was the university's own policies.

Concerned that the old athletic oversight system actually hindered reporting about athletics, Brodhead last fall asked a faculty committee chaired by Roy Weintraub to conduct the first review of the Athletic Council and the Athletic Policy Manual in decades. These concerns predated the lacrosse crisis, which however brought a renewed urgency to them.

In the past, many faculty members remained in the dark about the workings of the athletics department, from issues such as department policies for overseeing athletes' academic performances to how coaches made practice and travel plans. The overall goal is in the words of new Athletic Council chair Michael Gillespie "to build bridges across Towerview."

Mission Statement for Athletics

At the September Academic Council meeting, President Richard H. Brodhead unveiled a new mission statement for athletics.

Brodhead said the new statement was needed because no one knew the previous one existed and, more importantly, because the goals of athletics needed to be better stated within the overall mission of the university.

"It tries to say not what athletics should or should not be in terms of athletic terms but rather in University terms," he said.

Click here to read the new mission statement. (Word document)

Alleva on new Athletic Council

Athletics Director Joe Alleva said athletics is looking for more ways to bridge academics and athletics on campus.

He noted that the department has produced its first annual report, which was sent to all faculty members, and is participating in a Faculty Associates Program, which links faculty members to specific athletic teams.

The revised Athletic Council, Alleva said, is an important part of this process.

"We're going to help the members of the Athletic Council understand what's going on in athletics," Alleva said. "So far it's worked very well. Michael and Martha have taken the time to go around to virtually every coach and key employee in the department to find out what they do and how things work. They're showing a lot of effort and passion. Along with the other efforts and the additional faculty members on the Council, there is going to be a lot more communication. All these kinds of things mark a definite improvement."

Based on its recommendations and those of outgoing Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) Kathleen Smith, Brodhead revised the Athletic Council, the responsibilities of the FAR and wrote a new mission statement for athletics. Both academic and athletic officials are hopeful that the changes will lead to a freer flow of information, a more regular reporting system and a better understanding in athletics and academics of the needs and wishes of the other.

Brodhead told the Academic Council last month the effort underscored that athletics is an important part of the Duke's identity. He acknowledged faculty concerns that athletics remains isolated from the rest of the campus, but said what faculty didn't know was that athletics officials had just as great an interest in a closer relationship with academics.

"There was always good work done on the Athletic Council, but there was a perception, especially by the members of the Athletic Council that it was something of a black hole in that nobody knew when, how or if any input went into that group and no one knew when, how or if any output came out of that group," Brodhead said. "We wanted to devise an Athletics Council that was more open to the rest of the university, took charges from relevant administrators, include a wider faculty presence and at the end of the year reported out about its work."

Responsibility for implementing these changes falls to Psychology Professor Martha Putallaz, the new faculty athletics representative, and Political Science Professor Michael Gillespie, the new Athletic Council chair. One of the key changes is splitting those two posts, which previously were held by Smith.

The FAR's previous dual responsibility proved problematic in important situations, Putallaz said, because the FAR is the president's appointee and reports directly to President Brodhead. Under the old system, no one was charged with reporting about athletics to the faculty, Putallaz said.

"The recommendation to split the roles means there will be a lot more reporting to faculty and others," she said. "I remember talking with Joe Alleva, and he couldn't understand why so many people in academics didn't understand what athletics did because they were always forthcoming in the Athletic Council meeting. But that information never went anywhere. Now we have the job responsibilities in place to ensure that information does get shared."

Putallaz will be Duke's representative to the NCAA, ACC and other athletic meetings and will regularly report to Brodhead about athletics issues.

Gillespie is currently recruiting additional membership for the Athletic Council, which is beefing up the number of faculty committee members. He is also arranging monthly lunchtime faculty meetings with coaches in the Faculty Commons.

"The idea behind bringing in more faculty members and having these Faculty Commons meetings is simply we want more faculty members who are knowledgeable about what's going on in athletics," Gillespie said. "Faculty members can talk with coaches about what goes on in their sports, and how coaches run their teams and what they see as the tensions and problems."

Nearly a tenth of all undergraduate students participate in varsity sports, Gillespie and Putallaz said. Both said what got lost in the lacrosse crisis is in terms of combining excellence in academics and athletics, few universities can compare with Duke's record. Athletics' success, for one, means that Duke spends less on subsidies for athletics than do the Ivies or even many Division III colleges such as Williams and Amherst, Gillespie said.

"The more people can find out about athletics the better," Gillespie said. "By national standards, there may be some program out there that is better than us, but I can't think of it. Stanford, Notre Dame, Northwestern -- I'm confident we're doing a better job than they are in terms of academic performance and athletic success."

Putallaz said there is also the important reality that athletic success has become an important part of Duke's identity that is attractive to top students.

"To excel in a way that we define excellence in both athletics and academics, that's a very unique niche," she said. "It's an interesting group of students we attract. David Kraines in mathematics is very interested in helping to promote the admission of math prodigies to Duke. He said many of the ones who have come to Duke were attracted in part by the prominence of our athletic teams. While a strong academic program was a requirement for them, they also were drawn by the excitement surrounding sports events that is not found at MIT or the Ivies. Cameron is a very different environment than they had experienced before. Some of my colleagues may not see athletics as a community to support, but that is certainly one niche that is a community builder here."