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The Hill
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3 The resume's perfect place
4 Renting around
7 The shortest player
8 An ace of an interview
9 Smoking stogies
12 Sharing the trip
13 Breast cancer awareness
14 Counting the calories
15 Credit cards on campus
16 Poetry for the soul
18 Playing the game
19 Working overseas
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Athletic Department keeps eye on athletes'attendance
2
By Paul Eakins Special to the Kansan
Imagine going to class and knowing that there is someone shadowing you, checking your name off an attendance list. It is not your instructor but another student. And if you're not in class, you will probably pay for it later.
Paul Buskirk, associate director of athletics, initiated a student-athlete monitoring program seven years ago to encourage student-athletes to go to class.
Some students might consider it a blessing, others a curse. For many student-athletes at the University of Kansas, it's a reality.
"We had concerns that a handful of student-athletes were not going to class as much as they should," he said.
The program has about 80 studentathletes who are checked in rotation by four monitors, Buskirk said.
The monitors are paid from the Athletic Department's general budget.
Freshmen athletes often are monitored because the department wants to instill good habits in them, Buskirk said.
Chris Hurst, Overland Park senior, and one of the program's monitors, said student-athletes rarely were monitored in each class.
"You kind of feel like you're being a schmuck sometimes because every other student can blow off class any time they want," he said.
Often monitors go to classes to check that student-athletes don't come to class late or leave early, Hurst said.
Another problem that monitors encounter is identifying student-athletes who blend in with other students, particularly if they are already seated, he said.
This can be difficult when the class is in a large lecture hall with multiple doors, he said.
Hurst enjoys his job because it has flexible hours and is fairly easy, but at times he feels bad about marking people absent,he said.
Monitors are not allowed to enter classrooms; they can only to look through door windows.
The easiest ones to identify are football and basketball players, Hurst said.
Two years ago, Hurst said he had to check on Greg Ostertag, the 7-foot-2, 275-pound former center for the men's basketball team. Because of his size, Ostertag was easy to identify.
Hurst just had to walk past the window and glance in to immediately know whether Ostertag was there, he said.
Basketball
When the attendance list is completed by a monitor, it is submitted to the appropriate coaches.
"We had concerns that a handful of student-athletes were not going to class as much as they should."
Paul Buskirk associate director of athletics
The monitoring program is run through the Hale Achievement Center, located in the Anschutz Sports Pavilion. The center provides tutoring, guidance and counseling for student-athletes.
Occasional absences indicate that the program is not absolutely foolproof, but Buskirk said he is pleased with the character of the student-athletes.
The program was started to ensure that the agreement between the University and the student-athlete is being met, Buskirk said.
Most student-athletes like the system, Goree said. Those who do not often are the ones who don't go to class.
"It's a two-way street," Buskirk said.
For football players, the consequences usually are extra running after practice or extra study hall time, often on a Saturday night, football player Michael Goree, Detroit freshman, said.
One of the expectations is that the student-athletes will pass their classes.
"They've proven they can uphold their responsibilities," he said.
Student-athletes expect things from the department just as the department has expectations of them, he said.
A prevailing message that studentathletes receive is that academics comes before athletics, said football player Curtese Poole, Columbus, Ohio freshman.
Though the program is not infallible, it definitely will influence how often a student-athlete goes to class, Goree said.
"The sole purpose of being a student- athlete is to get an education," he said.
Though at times Poole feels like staying home and missing class, he said, he still goes because he doesn't want to face the consequences.
"It's not going to stop you from skipping class, but you'll pay for it," he said.
The Hill November 19,1996