Members: Celia Hooper (chair), Harry Amana, Carol Arnosti, Lissa Broome, Nicholas Didow, Jack Evans (ACC rep-ex officio), Garland Hershey, James Murphy, Terry Rhodes, William Smith, and Judy White.

Meetings: December 2001-October 2002. The committee held monthly meetings during the 2001-2002 academic year. This report constitutes the activities for the months of December 2001 through October 2002 for a total of seven meetings.

Reports Prepared by: Celia Hooper (Chair, 2002-2003), based on minutes and data which have been 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 for varsity athletes, athletic opportunities for members of the University committee, and the general conduct and operation of the University's athletic program" (Faculty Code §4-7[a]).

Committee Charge and Functions:

In a brief discussion the history and role of the committee were reviewed. The membership includes ten elected members of the faculty serving staggered five-year terms. In addition, the faculty athletics representative to the ACC, if not already an elective member, is an ex-officio member of the committee. The committee discussed issues that they felt would be important to its work which include progress of athletes and academic integrity (including the recent Knight Commission Report), sportsmanship, title nine compliance, and the proposed NCAA Academic Reform package. The committee felt it should not have a role in the operational decisions within the Athletic Department, but should serve in an advisory capacity to the Director of Athletics with any issues that may arise at each meeting. The major charge for the committee is to work in a way so as to protect the excellent reputation that our athletic program enjoys.

In the 2001-2002 academic year, subcommittees took primary responsibility for issues as decided in the fall 2001 first meeting, including Student-Athlete Exit Interviews, Sportsmanship, Academic Support Center assistance and Title IX review. This academic year the committee has met in September and October and has reorganized to cover, as a committee of the whole, the following topics for the upcoming academic year:

• Student-Athlete Exit Interviews with Jim Murphy and a subcommittee in charge of the process and data,
• Academic Support Center liaison, with Garland Hershey as a representative to that council,
• Sportsmanship, including UNC-CH, ACC and national issues,
• The NCAA Academic reform package,
• The Timmons student-athlete document (for discussion of Title IX, the NCAA regulation system, and student qualification)
• Other issues that may emerge during the academic year.

Report of Discussions:

Academic Performance of Student-Athletes

Included, as an Appendix of this report, are seven pages covering the 1984 through 1997 cohorts. These data summarize the academic status of students as of fall, 2002. The data are for men and women, athletes and non-athletes and include data are for all participating student-athletes, not just those receiving athletic scholarships. The tables contain data on the number originally enrolled on a particular year, those currently enrolled, those graduated, and those were departures. On departures, i.e., students who left before graduating, fall into two categories: "Left Ineligible" includes those students who left but were not eligible to continue (whether for academic or other reasons); "Left eligible" includes those students who left Carolina but who were eligible to continue. Some important observations regarding the data:

• For the last five cohorts in our report, the graduation percentage for male student-athletes ranges from a low of 64.4% (1996) to a high of 79.8% (1993). The corresponding rates for women student-athletes range from a low of 83.75% (1997) to a high of 91.04% (1993).

• Some of these numbers can be expected to improve slightly because of student-athletes who are still enrolled and because of re-enrollments by student-athletes who left but were eligible to continue. For example, for the 1996 and 1997 cohorts the numbers of male student-athletes currently enrolled are one and three, respectively.

• For these past five cohorts the overall graduation percentage achieved by male student-athletes to date is 71.6%. The attrition (those who left, whether eligible to continue or not) amounted to 27.1%, and those still enrolled amount to 1.2%.

meetings are held with each coach by Athletic Department personnel to review the academic progress of the student-athletes in each program. Patterns that may appear over a period of years are discussed for underlying explanation.

At the October 2002, meeting, Jack Evans, our ACC representative, reported on the proposed academic reforms, which will be discussed at the upcoming (November) NCAA meeting. The committee will discuss any changes as they occur in the future and possible ramifications for our own campus.

Survey answers by, and exit interviews with, graduating senior student-athletics.

Each year the Committee and the Athletics Department ask all graduating student-athletes to fill out a detailed questionnaire, prepared by the Committee, covering many aspects of their experience at UNC-CH. In addition, Committee members participate, along with personnel from the Athletics Department and the Academic Support Center, in exit interviews with groups of graduating student-athletes. By examining this information, the committee hopes to obtain an accurate portrayal of how student-athletes perceive their experience at UNC-CH. This year, Jim Murphy, with very helpful assistance from Rodney Hodson and David Sheaves in the Odum Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, a new database was established for a new survey, an updated revision of the previous survey. The committee is undergoing a transition from the older version of the exit survey to the one that has been developed for use going forward. The newer version had first been administered in the spring of 2002. The Committee noted that some students responded that their participation in athletics had influenced their choice of major, as well as access to courses needed for their majors. In addition, responses were noted that indicated some perceived adverse impact on grades and ability to prepare for classes and complete homework during the season and during travel.

The Committee identified for tracking and future attention the following issues: perceived impact on grades, perceived impact on choice of major by student-athletes, and perceptions of out-of-season training hours.

Sportsmanship and the Knight Commission Report

Last year's report reflected the committee discussions on the Knight Commission Report after a visit from President Emeritus Friday and Mr. Doug Dibbert, Executive Director of the UNC Alumni Association. The committee continued its discussion of the Commission issues and continued discussions that more could be accomplished at the conference level. Correspondence from John Swofford, Commissioner of the ACC, discussing ACC sportsmanship issues were discussed by the committee and the Athletic Department. At our December 2001 meeting, Steve Kirschner, Director of Sports Information, met with the committee to discuss sportsmanship issues on our campus. This topic will be one of the topics that will be addressed by the committee in forthcoming months. At the September 2002 meeting, The FAC Chair discussed communicating with other ACC schools' faculty committees in support of these issues.
 

Title IX discussions

In the 2001-02 academic year Beth Miller, Associate Athletic Director, reported to the committee on our Title IX compliance. Rather than have a subcommittee each year, the committee will ask Dr. Miller to report to the committee on Title IX issues on an annual basis for committee information and discussion as needed.

In conclusion:

The committee felt that the Athletic Department joins with the faculty members of the committee to do a thoughtful job of examining the issues related to the quality of life for the scholar-athlete at UNC-Chapel Hill. The large issues presented by the Knight Commission, the NCAA reform package, and sportsmanship in general sometimes reflects issues of society at large. The committee is dedicated to translating those issues for our campus and continuing to discuss them on a more practical basis for our campus.