Members: Terms ending in:
        1999: William Smith
                  Lawrence Rosenfeld
        2000: James Murphy
                  Anne H. Fishel (chair)
        2001: Richard Rosen
                  Karla Henderson
        2002: Stanley Mandel
                  Trudier Harris
        2003: Judy White
                  Louise Antony

        ACC/NCAA Representative: John P. (Jack) Evans

New members beginning fall of 1999:
    2004: Celia Hooper
              Nicholas Didow

Meetings: Fall 1998-Spring 1999. The committee held monthly meetings during the 1998-1999 academic year. There were four meetings a semester for a total of eight meetings.

Report Prepared by: Anne H. Fishel (Chair, 1998-99) based on minutes and approved by the committee.

Committee Charge: "The Faculty Athletics Committee is concerned with informing the faculty and advising the Chancellor on any aspect of athletics, including, but not limited to, the academic experience of varsity athletes, athletic opportunities for members of the University community, and the general conduct and operation of the University’s athletic program" (Faculty Code).

Committee Functions: Subcommittees are established to take primary responsibility for issues as decided in the first meeting of the year. Committee members provided advice that was sought and used by the Chancellor and the Athletics Department. The Chancellor attended meetings in the fall semester as his schedule permitted. Athletics Director Dick Baddour and/or other members of the Athletics Department were also in attendance. The active involvement of Committee members on various Athletics Department Committees, especially the several units run by the Athletics Department’s Academic Support Center, provide substantive support to the Athletics Department in maintaining state and national compliance. Committee members participate in a variety of Athletics Committee activities related to the educational and physical well being of the student athlete. Committee members may also be used in the recruitment of program staff, such as the recent search committee for the Director of the Academic Support Center.

Report of Discussions:

1. Inappropriate behavior of student-athletes. Mr. Baddour summarized a number of preventive activities that have been in place for some time as well as additional steps that he has taken to prevent embarrassing behavior involving student-athletes. He reported that he recently met with all head coaches to emphasize the importance of their leadership and respect for the institution’s standards as they provide guidance to their student-athletes regarding behavior. Other measures included scheduling each high school prospect on an official visit to meet with an academic counselor to emphasize the importance that the University attaches to academic performance. In some instances the head coach will be required to contact high school guidance counselors to obtain information about the likelihood of a particular student to meet the academic and behavioral standards of the University. Each head coach has developed a written statement of clear expectations regarding appropriate behavior.
2. Men’s basketball. Coach Bill Guthridge presented an overview of several aspects of the men’s basketball program including the volume of recruiting activity (75-80 per year), mentoring of academic performance, and sportsmanship. Discussion included desirability to continue to find ways to create a better balance between the requirements of academic study and athletic training.
3. New Director of the Academic Support Center. Following the successful work of the Search Committee, Janice Hilliard was appointed to that position.
4. Drug testing policy. Documents were distributed describing the UNC policy regarding student-athletes who test positive for drugs, UNC policy regarding students in general and the NCAA policy on the drug testing plan and consequences of positive tests. After much discussion, the committee agreed with the current UNC policy for student-athletes with its emphasis on education (particularly following a first positive test) and because of the opportunity for flexibility, discretion, and judgment in the determination of sanctions. If changes are made, the Committee advised against changes in the treatment of a first positive test, but could be comfortable supporting changes to achieve alignment with the NCAA policy regarding a second positive test. The challenge is how to increase surveillance while preserving confidentiality of the individual student-athlete. A revised policy on drug testing has been adopted by the Trustees and includes: "After a first positive test, at a minimum the student will be placed on probation…" and "A second positive test requires permanent suspension from the team." (The full text of the new policy is available from the Athletics Department).
5. Approval of student research proposal prior to Institutional Research Board approval. The committee approved a research plan to analyze elements of the academic and related database of student-athletes. This plan was presented by the graduate student. The issue that brought the proposal to this committee was the need to handle and maintain the data so that the reproducibility of the research would be maintained while still complying with the statutory requirement that the academic record of an individual not be identifiable by any person not authorized to have that information. The student provided documents to the Committee describing an approach that involved creating groupings of data and then the division of the total data set into two independent sets such that these conditions could be met.
6. University’s relationship with the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC). Faculty chair Pete Andrews met with the committee to discuss the work of the task force, which had been appointed by Chancellor Michael Hooker, related to the University’s relationship with the CLC. Additional discussions throughout the year focused on the task force’s position to require these manufacturers to disclose their factory sites and to provide a "living wage" for those employed at these sites. The Committee agreed with these objectives.
7. Admissions of prospective student-athletes. Because of some lack of clarity about the process of reviewing student-athletes who might be expected to face special academic challenges, the subcommittee will be revising policy relative to these prospective students.
8. Thursday night football game. The Committee held several discussions about concerns generated by the TV contract requiring UNC to hold a home football game on a weekday or weekday evening. The Committee supported the decision to meet our obligation to the Conference TV contract by holding games in Charlotte. It was hoped that scheduling such a future game during fall break might provide a constructive option. However, parking would continue to be a problem for employees of Health Affairs who don’t have a fall break. The committee supported the faculty resolution (March, 1999) which stated, "The Faculty Council opposes the scheduling of any home football game on campus on a weekday or weeknight."
9. Sexual harassment. The Athletics Department’s policy on dealing with possible sexual harassment in an athletic program was discussed. Specific reporting mechanisms are in place. In addition, each student-athlete receives a letter describing people to contact to report concerns. University attorneys have met with all head coaches to discuss issues of sexual harassment.
10. Morehead Scholars who are student-athletes. Because of changes in NCAA legislation which prohibit scholarships provided by outside sponsors to be granted on the basis of athletic ability, a number of discussions occurred with the NCAA and the Morehead Scholars program. The Morehead Scholars program agreed to change the administration so as to convert it to institutional aid.
11. Construction. Work continued on the Finley Golf Course. Greens fees are expected to increase modestly for those associated with the University (students, faculty, and staff), but more substantial increases will apply to those who essentially use the course as a public golf course.
12. Data on academic progress of student-athletes. Included as an Appendix to this report is a series of tables for each cohort of students entering the University beginning with 1984 which summarizes the academic status as of the Fall semester of 1999. The data are for men and women, athletes and non-athletes, and they include four categories of students: those who are currently enrolled, graduated, suspended or withdrawn from the University. These latter two categories have the following meanings. Suspended means those individuals who left the University not eligible to continue and withdrawn include all individuals who left the University eligible to continue. In addition, these data are for all participating student-athletes.

For the cohorts beginning 1991 through 1994 women student-athletes have graduated at a higher rate than women non-athletes. The reverse is true for male student-athletes. In addition, these data show that for the cohorts that entered in 1990 and 1992, male student-athletes failed to achieve a 70% overall graduation rate. The cohorts for 1993 and 1994 have reestablished the pattern of graduating at better than a 70% rate, even though male student-athletes for those two cohorts have not achieved the overall graduation rate of male non-athletes.

The data continue to show an increased rate of withdrawals during the 1990s. One change contributing to this phenomenon is the fact that a change in a NCAA rule has made transferring easier and we have experienced increased transfer rates, particularly among male student-athletes. Even though these people might leave the University eligible to continue, we have no way to track them and report whether they succeed in graduating from another institution.

13. Exit interviews with graduating senior student-athletes. The overall picture was one of very good support for and from the Academic Support Center. The questionnaire responses and the exit interview materials suggested that the coaches and other representatives of the Department of Athletics take the academic part of a student-athlete’s experience at this University very seriously. There continues to be some concerns expressed about balancing academic work and athletic training-competition, the drug testing program, career preparation and parking.

Topics for 1999-2000:
Academic progress of student-athletes, student-athlete behavior, exit interviews for graduating student-athletes, sportsmanship, Title IX issues, CLC task force, drug testing policies, academic support center, and student-athlete admissions.

In conclusion:
The committee continues to ask questions and raise issues related to the quality of life for the student-athlete. We are appreciative that the athletic programs at UNC-CH have a national reputation of being well run. The Department of Athletics was ranked number two nationally in a major survey by The Sporting News (published in the September 13 issue). All 112 U.S. colleges who participate in NCAA I sports in both football and basketball were graded according to standards ranging from on-field success to academic performance. The Tar Heels finished second only to Penn State.