Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

30° Evanston, IL
Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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Jock stereotypes are unjustified, but so are perks

With his good grades and powerful right arm, Northwestern baseball player Gabe Ribas should be the poster boy for NU athletics. Instead, he says he is “embarrassed” to wear his adidas sweats around campus.

“People don’t like you when they find out you are an athlete,” he says. “They think this school made an exception to let you in.”

Ribas’ tale is echoed by many NU student-athletes, whose complaints about the “dumb jock” stereotype is just one symptom of the divisions between students and student-athletes. Some athletes feel unappreciated, disrespected and unwelcome by students who rarely show up for athletic events but pack a cappella shows and a weekly journalism lecture series. Misunderstandings abound on both sides of this jock-geek debate, and the ugliest is the idea that athletes would not be here were it not for their physical skills.

“I can deal with having low attendance at soccer games,” says freshman soccer player Michael Trudell. “But I can’t deal with people thinking they are smarter than me because I am an athlete.”

The men’s soccer team has a mean grade point average of 3.5. The football team has a starting wide receiver who topped 1500 on his SAT. NU boasts the highest graduation rate for student-athletes in all of Division I.

Writing off NU athletes as undeserving of admission is plain wrong. Still, claims from student-athlete leaders and NU Athletic Director Rick Taylor notwithstanding, there is indeed an “athlete track” at NU. It is called communication studies. The 2000 football media guide listed the majors of 59 players on the team. Twenty-seven percent of these players, 16 overall, majored in communication studies. Only 6 percent of all NU students major in communication studies.

Undercurrents of animosity show themselves in other ways – such as the resentment students sometimes feel about the perks of being a jock. Some of these perks are innocuous, such as free adidas gear, much of which has to be returned when an athlete’s playing days are over. But some of these perks seem downright unfair to non-athletes: full or partial athletic scholarships, a separate admissions process for recruited athletes and early registration for classes.

“I don’t think we deserve that stuff,” Ribas says. “But that is what it takes to be competitive.”

To the victors go the spoils, and athletes today are the victors in the extracurricular game. It is a simple fact that without shoe contracts, scholarships or Academic Services, NU could not attract skilled athletes. Do not blame student-athletes for the perks they enjoy. They are the star attractions in athletic contests that generate tens of millions of dollars every year for NU – although 99 percent of it is brought in by football and men’s basketball.

Student-athletes look at their absurd time commitments, the brutal travel schedules and the empty stands and wonder why no one seems to care. Students look at the perks, the scholarship money and the registration advantages and wonder what makes athletes so special.

Should NU athletes have to put up with patronizing stereotypes? No way. Should non-athletes feel shafted because they are not similarly compensated for their extracurricular activities? Absolutely.

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Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881
Jock stereotypes are unjustified, but so are perks