5. Policies Concerning the Office of Academic Advising for Athletes (OAAA)

 

NCAA legislation addresses only baseline programs and services to be provided by Division I schools, and there is wide variation in the quality and breadth of services provided to athletes.  Academic advisors for athletes have become professionalized, with their own national organization; advisors on individual campuses receive guidance from their national association, and also respond to formal and informal requirements set for them by the institution and athletics department personnel. 

 

The success of athlete advising is critical for the academic integrity of campus sports programs.  Faculty have a responsibility to understand the role of the Office of Academic Advising for Athletes (OAAA), and to be assured that it is structured to operate with integrity.  The participation of the director of the OAAA on the Campus Athletics Board has been recommended by the COIA as a best practice. 

 

There is a natural tension between the academic goals of advising and goals of athletics success shared by athletes and coaches.  Program integrity does not require eliminating this tension – it is an inevitable feature of college sports.  Integrity is the product of managing this tension in such a way that the academic focus of the college experience is preserved.  To the degree that coaches and Athletics Directors share this goal of integrity, the advisor’s task is simplified.  When this is not the case, advisors are the front line for preserving academic integrity.

 

The single most difficult issue that confronts the OAAA is to maintain a focus on maximizing the academic accomplishments of athletes, given their athletics commitments, rather than on maintaining their athletic eligibility.  A focus on eligibility will lead athletes towards unchallenging courses and majors, and overuse of academic support.  Eligibility standards are the lowest levels of academic accomplishment that universities will tolerate, not goals for students to aim for.  Historically, advisors have often encountered pressures from coaches and others to minimize the academic challenges athletes face in order to ensure continuing eligibility and meet graduation rate expectations.  Athletes may adopt these minimal goals as well.  The OAAA must be structured and led in ways that will help it resist these pressures and focus on motivating athletes to use their academic opportunities to maximize personal growth, intellectual skills, and career success.

 

The proposed guidelines are not meant to be comprehensive or exhaustive, and it is not expected that each guideline will be applicable to every institution.  The guidelines are best used jointly by members of the OAAA, those involved in campus athletics governance, and faculty governance leaders to assess current programs and envision possible improvements.

 

Certain values or principles inform many of these guidelines.  These principles provide a rationale for the recommendations of effective practices.

 

Academic integrity.  The core mission of athletic academic support programs should be to help athletes maximize their academic performance, assume responsibility for their learning, reach attainable academic goals, and make progress toward degree completion.  Because the focus of advising is academic achievement and personal growth, although the pressures and rewards of athletics participation are central issues for athletes and their advisors, the role of advisors must be to advocate for academic choices and efforts that are in the athletes’ interest and have integrity.

 

Integration.  Athletes should be integrated in the student body, culture, and community.  The intercollegiate athletics program, including its academic support services, should be an integral part of the institution’s educational system.  While the OAAA provides specialized services to athletes, it should encourage and expect athletes to utilize the institution’s regular academic services.

 

Scrutiny and support.  Unique among campus advisors, academic advisors for athletes are at the interface of the often competing pressures that characterize all intercollegiate athletics: the dual imperatives to succeed academically and athletically.  While many athletics departments, administrators, and coaches are committed to fostering academic excellence, history indicates that athletics advisors may sometimes feel strong pressures to prioritize the interests of teams over their judgments of the academic interests of individual students.  For this reason, the academic advising office must receive strong institutional support and attention.

 

Personal adjustment.  Programs and services should help athletes adjust effectively to the various developmental transitions they face in college.  Skills needed to cope with changes from high school to college, and then to life after college, should be provided in a well-designed and integrated program.  Successful programs will ensure that while the OAAA monitors athletes’ academic accomplishment, athletes are led to take increasing responsibility for utilizing campus resources and pursuing academic goals.

 

Effectiveness.  Programs should be held accountable for quality and impact on students’ academic achievement.  Assessments of programs and services, both internal and external, should be made on a regular schedule.

 

Campus comparability.  The unit’s mission and breadth of services should be conceived in terms of the norms of the campus.  Because athletes require special skills in time management, must track eligibility issues in making academic choices, and miss classes because of competition schedules, there is reason to provide athletes with enhanced support services.  However, athlete support must not reach levels that eliminate academic challenges essential to intellectual growth or that create visible inequities on campus that suggest privileged status and undermine the mission of athletics to promote campus community and loyalty.  Similarly, while campuses should ensure that Offices of Academic Advising for Athletes have staff, salary, and budget support commensurate with the challenges and responsibilities undertaken, qualified and well staffed undergraduate advising must be a campuswide priority, and support for athletics advising must not be at a level that creates campus resentment by indicating prioritization of athletics over other parts of the academic community.

 

Guidelines for the Office of Academic Advising for Athletes

 

[Drafting comments are added to this section for clarity.]

 

5.1. Organization

 

5.1.1 The OAAA should report directly to the campus office of academic affairs.  Campuses may choose to have a secondary reporting line to the Director of Athletics, but primary control over academic advising must derive from the chief academic officer of the campus.

 

Advising is an academic function, and it belongs primarily to the academic side; the campus academic affairs office must be accountable for the quality and integrity of the advising provided all its students.  For this reason, the OAAA should report to the office of the chief academic officer of the campus.  The campus office of academic affairs should be responsible for and involved with OAAA personnel decisions, supervise policies and procedures for academic advising of athletes, and have authority in budget decisions concerning academic advising.  However, it is essential that the OAAA operate with the strong support of the Director of Athletics, in order to combat potential pressures to substitute the goal of continued eligibility for academic accomplishment, and to motivate athletes to make the most of academic opportunities.  In addition, it is common for the OAAA to provide athlete services beyond advising, and the design and operation of these services requires the involvement and support of the Athletics Department. Athletics Directors should be provided positive opportunities for engagement with the OAAA mission.  Campuses should consider, in delineating OAAA reporting lines, whether this goal will best be met by means of a secondary reporting line or by other means through which the AD can become positively engaged in the mission of the OAAA.  The structure that will best ensure support of the OAAA academic mission and best guard against efforts to focus on eligibility over accomplishment, in light of campus culture and organization, will represent the best practice for each campus.   However, in all cases, ultimate accountability for the integrity of the OAAA must lie clearly with the chief academic officer.

 

5.1.2 The OAAA should work closely with the FAR.

 

The free flow of information between the OAAA and the FAR allows the FAR to support the academic mission of the OAAA, in accord with the role of faculty representative.  The FAR should be fully apprised by the OAAA Director of all issues bearing on the integrity of the advising program.

 

5.1.3 The OAAA should be represented by its Director on a regularly convened committee that monitors the relationship between athletics programs and campus academic and support units, bringing together administrative officers and others responsible for key elements of athlete support and services, such as the Registrar, Bursar, Athletics Director, FAR, Compliance Offer, and a high academic administrator.  The OAAA Director and FAR should have the prerogative to introduce agenda items.

 

5.1.4 The OAAA should collaborate closely with other campus advising units.

 

A full understanding of the goals, practices, and requirements of campuswide and departmental advising units is essential to ensuring that the OAAA meets the highest campus standards of academic advising, makes maximum use of campus resources, and enables athletes to be aware and make use of the resources available to other students.

 

5.1.5 The OAAA should collaborate closely with other campus student support units.

 

Close coordination with student service units on campus will help ensure that OAAA services conform to best campus practices, that athletes make the best use of these services, and that the OAAA does not inefficiently duplicate services already provided on campus.

 

5.1.6 The OAAA should have a clearly defined mission statement, consistent with that of the campus, which specifies the centrality of academic integrity to the unit mission.

 

5.1.7 The OAAA should develop regular and frequent internal self-assessment procedures for all its programs, and work with the campus to arrange periodic campus assessments of its academic advising and athlete services components, to ensure successful external NCAA certification reviews.

 

In order to create a continuing dynamic for improved OAAA services, the NCAA, perhaps in conjunction with the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletes, should devote resources to research on effective OAAA programs.  Conferences are encouraged to support annual meetings of OAAA directors to discuss problems, opportunities, and best practices.

 

 

5.2. Personnel  

 

A. Director 

 

5.2.1 The Director should have a Master’s or Doctoral degree in student counseling or a related field. 

 

The increasing responsibilities of the OAAA on many campuses has led at some schools to a required or preferred qualification of a doctoral degree in a field of relevant expertise, and this is recommended as a best practice. 

 

5.2.2 The Director should have prior experience in student counseling, personnel and budget management, and athletics, with a history of rules compliance and commitment to ethical practices. 

 

5.2.3 The Director should have independence in developing and implementing policies related to academic advising, subject to the supervision of the campus office of academic affairs. 

 

5.2.4 The Director should be directly responsible for the development of program budgets, allocation of unit resources, assignment of advisor case loads and other unit duties, and all unit personnel decisions. 

 

5.2.5 The Director should be responsible for designing and supervising advisor training programs.

 

5.2.6 The Director should have final authority over advising staff, under the supervision of the campus chief academic officer, subject only to usual institutional rules governing the authority and responsibility of unit heads.

 

5.2.7 The Director should have appropriate and specified authority over support staff.

 

5.2.8 The Director should be responsible for designing and supervising tutor and mentor training programs.

 

5.2.9 The salary of the Director, and of all positions in the OAAA, should be determined by the office of academic affairs, with due regard for the specialized skills and work schedules of OAAA personnel, external market conditions, and issues of campus equity.

 

B. Academic Advisors

 

5.2.10 OAAA Advisors should preferably have a Master’s degree in student counseling or a related field, and experience in student counseling.

 

5.2.11 Advisors should participate in professional development opportunities.

 

5.2.12 Advisors should participate in on-campus training provided by other campus academic or advising units.

 

5.2.13 Advisors should be assigned manageable case loads.

 

5.2.14 No advisor should report directly to a coach.

 

5.2.15 A single advisor should not serve as the sole advisor assigned to work with a specific team; multiple advisors should share team advising duties. There are many conveniences to assigning all members of a team to a single advisor; however, there is significant potential for the authority and independence of advisors to be undermined, and the assignment of multiple advisors to teams is a best practice designed to improve conditions for academic integrity. 

 

Although many coaches are committed to the academic success of their athletes, the influence of coaches over academic advising should be strictly limited.  There is a significant imbalance of power between coaches and advisors, and coaches’ goals may differ significantly from those of academic advisors; these problems are reduced when advisors interact with a coach as a group. Schools that have adopted this model have reported success, but it has not been broadly tested.  It is recommended that schools consider its advantages in seeking to improve academic integrity in advising, and that information on the comparative merits of the two systems be collected for ongoing assessment. 

 

5.2.16 Advisors should communicate closely with advisors in athletes’ major departments, in order to ensure that athletes receive consistent and accurate counseling.

 

5.2.17 Advisors should review and have the option to endorse petitions for NCAA academic waivers.

 

NCAA continuing eligibility requirements may sometimes conflict with legitimate academic goals, such as changes of major motivated by shifts in student interest or career goals.  Judicious NCAA review of petitions will be more likely if reliable advisor assessments are included.  Campuses should include advisors in such petition procedures, and should design procedures to ensure that advisor judgments about the academic integrity of petitions are not subject to distortion.

5.2.18 Academic advisors, not coaches, should be the contact point between the athletics department and instructors. Coaches should be forbidden from initiating contact with instructors regarding the academic progress or status of individual students.

5.2.19 Academic advisors, not coaches, should have the primary responsibility in the athlete’s selection of major and specific courses.

C. Other Appointees

 

5.2.20 Learning specialists, life-skill coordinators, and other additional staff should be appointed to manage major OAAA program activities apart from academic advising, as necessary.  These positions may be shared with other campus student services units to maximize efficient use of resources.

 

 

5.3. Programmatic Functions

 

A. Academic Advising

 

The OAAA should perform the following functions:

 

5.3.1  Re-assessment of newly enrolled athletes’ abilities and skills.

 

Because the proportion of sponsored admits tends to be higher for athletes than for other student populations, the identification of at-risk students is particularly critical for the OAAA.  Because of the potential for the time management problems associated with athletics to interfere with academic achievement, it is unusually important for advisors to athletes to be able to set baseline academic expectations for individual students.

 

5.3.2  Academic counseling for academic progress.

 

The central function of academic advisors for athletes is high quality counseling to optimize students’ academic accomplishments, relative to their academic potential and their evolving long-term goals.

 

5.3.3 Monitoring and tracking academic progress during semesters and towards degree completion.

 

Because of the competing demands of athletics and academics, the OAAA is more proactive in monitoring and evaluating student progress than other campus advising units.

 

5.3.4  Assisting students in identifying career goals and choosing a major.

 

This function may require coordination with campus or other unit advisors.  Advisors must help students focus on their long-range interests in choosing a major, rather than on the goal of minimizing potential time and effort conflicts between academics and athletics.

 

5.3.5  Offering assistance in course scheduling.

 

Once students choose a major, departmental advisors should be chiefly responsible for course scheduling advice, but the OAAA may continue involvement in order to review for issues of eligibility and time conflicts.  The objective should be to resolve conflicts so as best to accommodate academic goals.

 

5.3.6  Monitoring issues of academic eligibility.

 

Advisors ensure that students are aware of institutional and departmental requirements to remain in good academic standing.

 

5.3.7  Monitoring issues of athletic eligibility.

 

The OAAA provides athletes with information concerning all policies related to eligibility, and assists the student in assessing how best to accomplish academic goals while maintaining eligibility.  Advisors coordinate with certification specialists in order to ensure that students are able to make well-informed decisions. 

 

B. Academic Support Services

 

The OAAA should provide the following academic support services:

 

5.3.8  Specialized programming and assistance for the freshman transition.

 

5.3.9  Assistance to students in developing academic planning and time management skills.

 

Time management is an unusually critical issue for athletes.  The OAAA should have programs to help all athletes develop superior time management skills.

 

5.3.10  Mentoring for at-risk students.

 

While, in principle, schools assess athletics success as one predictor of college achievement, the OAAA must anticipate that a portion of athletes will be underprepared for college academically. Individualized mentoring programs, particularly for first- and second-year at risk students, must be a significant unit focus.  However, it is equally critical that athletes in these programs realize that they are expected to develop the skills necessary for college success in a timely manner.  Mentoring programs must be designed to foster student academic independence, and should limit interventions in such a way as to promote this goal.

 

5.3.11  Access to tutors and, when appropriate, mentors.

 

The OAAA guides athletes who need special academic help to student tutors and/or mentors.  Historically, academic dishonesty associated with tutoring has been a problem with some athletics programs; therefore, the following item is an important facet of OAAA management.

 

5.3.12  Training and supervision for tutors and mentors.

 

Prospective tutors should be carefully vetted for academic qualifications and experience.  The OAAA must provide significant training for tutors.  This training must involve a review of ethical problems that have emerged in the past and detailed guidelines for ethical behavior.  Programs are advised to develop “contracts” that specify the responsibilities of tutors.  Tutoring should be restricted to on-site meetings, or reports of tutoring activities should be submitted by tutors for individual tutoring sessions.  Although tutors and athletes bear responsibility for the integrity of the tutoring process, the OAAA is accountable for adhering proactively to best practice standards in the hiring, training, and supervision of tutors and mentors.

 

5.3.13  Other appropriate learning interventions.

 

These may include classroom checks, required study tables, surrogate class attendees when athletes are at off-campus competitions, and so forth.  The principle governing such arrangements is that athletes should be responsible for the maximum effort of which they are academically capable, and the level of intervention should anticipate increasingly mature and responsible behavior.  For example, while classroom checks may be considered appropriate for first-year students, to enforce them for juniors or seniors is to perpetuate an expectation of irresponsibility.  Increasing independence and responsibility is essential to the college experience.  It is unacceptable for the OAAA to inhibit this process in order to minimize risks of academic problems for teams.

 

5.3.14  Study facilities available and accessible to athletes.

 

Because athletes spend a great deal of time on the athletics campus, which is frequently at some distance from other parts of the campus, athletics study facilities should be available.  Such facilities also should allow the OAAA to monitor tutorials, required study tables, and so forth, which may be especially valuable in helping athletes make the transition to college.  It should be emphasized that athletes are fully responsible for making use of other campus facilities, such as the Library.

 

5.3.15  Laptop computer loans for athletics travel.

 

5.3.16  Priority registration services.

 

New NCAA progress-towards-degree requirements make it increasingly necessary for athletes to have some level of priority in class choices, a service that has previously been justified principally on the basis of athletics practice scheduling conflicts.  Registration is a campuswide issue, and campus faculty should develop policy governing registration privileges for student groups with special needs that gives due consideration to the increased scheduling pressures on athletes.

 

C.  Athlete Support Services

 

By providing a range of the following support services to athletes the OAAA can reinforce its overall function in promoting academic strength:

 

5.3.17  Programs for or assistance concerning transition out of collegiate sports.

 

5.3.18 Information on campus programs and services relating to: life skills development, career exploration, career skills assessment, job search preparation, graduate school application, internships, and so forth.  Where campus services may not exist, the OAAA may advocate for them, or provide independent services for athletes.

 

It is important for the integration of athletes in the campus student body that they be aware of and make use of the resources of the campus.  Wherever possible, the OAAA should refrain from establishing independent programs, and instead coordinate with other campus units and proactively encourage athletes to visit them in order to make best use of the services the campus provides.

 

5.3.19  Support for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

 

5.3.20  Organization of appropriate community service activities for athletes.

 

5.3.21 Academic awards ceremonies and other activities to recognize academic accomplishments and create additional incentives.

 

5.3.22 A substance abuse education program that addresses alcohol abuse, performance enhancing drug abuse, recreational drug abuse, and other forms of substance abuse, or participates in campuswide programs.                             

 

5.3.23  A media education program.

 

5.3.24  Internship or graduate assistantship programs related to athletics.

 

5.3.25  Programs to educate athletes concerning agents and NCAA and campus rules governing contact with them.

 

5.3.26  Programs in diversity awareness; the OAAA may participate in campuswide programs.

 

5.3.27 A gambling abuse education program.

 

5.3.28 Programs on sexual harassment and sexual misconduct awareness; the OAAA may participate in campuswide programs. 

 

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