Ivy presidents ponder future

The biannual Council of Ivy League Presidents conference was held as usual in early December 2002, but for the first time in its history, the conference was not limited to the Ivy League presidents and the Council's executive director, Jeffrey Orleans. As a testament to the magnitude of the issues being discussed and the potential consequences of the decisions made on the future of Ivy League athletics, all eight Ivy athletic directors attended parts of the meetings. The Ivy League presidents "felt that we shouldn't talk about athletics in any far-reaching way without directly hearing from the athletic directors," University President Judith Rodin said last week. Throughout the past year, the Ivy League presidents have been re-evaluating certain policies, primarily in an effort to improve the balance between academics and athletics. But there is disagreement among the eight presidents on the issue, and the debates were often quite heated. "This was the first meeting since I've been president that it's been truly contentious," Rodin said. On June 17, the Council made only three major changes in Ivy policy -- a five-player reduction in the number of Ivy football recruits per year, a reorganization of the football coaching staff and a minimal decrease in permissible practice time. Still, these seemingly small changes have strong effects on both the coaches and athletes. "A good friend of mine is out of a job," Penn senior football captain Travis Belden said, referring to a football coach who will not be returning to the Quakers' staff next season. Furthermore, the few decrees seem to suggest that several more changes could be forthcoming. However, none were made at the December conference. Instead, the Council deferred its decision on policy changes until the June 2003 conference. But Steve Bilsky, Penn's athletic director, is not convinced that the June deadline for making changes is the answer. "I am against having a timeline in this case because of the seriousness of the issues," Bilsky said. "An artificial deadline often yields worse results." Bilsky implied that the future of Ivy League athletics -- and in turn, the future of Ivy League schools as a whole -- is on the table. "These are not just athletic issues -- these are institutional issues," Bilsky said. "If the Ivy League de-emphasizes athletics, Penn will lose opportunities for alumni to come together, and there will be less donors." However, there is a difference of opinion among the Ivy presidents regarding how to accomplish certain goals. The two main goals are to have "terrific athletics without compromising the academic experience of the student-athlete and to not let athletics overwhelm the admissions process," Rodin said. Although the first goal seems unanimous among Ivy presidents, the varying student population size among different Ivy schools sparked much debate about athletic recruitment and the number of varsity sports. For larger Ivy schools such as Penn, the percentage of students that are recruited for athletics is much smaller than that of some of the other Ivies. "The greatest concern is the disproportionate impact that coaches have on the admissions process at [smaller institutions]," Rodin said. Dartmouth, one of the smaller Ivies plagued by an undersized budget that funds 34 varsity sports teams, recently cut its swimming program to save money but later reversed its ruling because of widespread opposition and a number of outside donations. "I was disappointed to see a sport that all eight Ivies participate in be dropped," Bilsky said. Dartmouth's actions highlighted the division among Ivy presidents and, more importantly, revealed a possible response to the athletic recruitment problem. The number of students that are admitted for athletics "should be an institutional decision, not a league-wide decision that jeopardizes Penn," Bilsky said. By setting rules that, for example, reduce the number of recruits for all league teams, the Council not only weakens the Ivy League as a conference, it weakens the individual teams and their chance at competing in NCAA tournaments, Bilsky added. Penn's athletic director champions the "solve it yourself" solution in the case of admissions. He hopes that each institution has the ability to determine its own recruiting policies, but admits that a consensus among Ivy presidents, which in the past has been required to pass any legislation, is necessary regarding most other issues. Ultimately though, Bilsky and the seven other athletic directors can only offer their advice to the heads of their respective universities -- and hope that it is followed. "The presidents make the decisions in the Ivy League," Bilsky said. The biggest dilemma that Ivy presidents face is deciding whether or not they want their teams to be able to compete outside of the Ancient Eight. While all Ivy presidents hope to keep league competition strong, it is unclear as to how dedicated some are to their teams competing for NCAA championships. "There are some Ivy presidents that think it's a problem when Ivy teams win NCAA championships, and we have other presidents that think it's terrific," Rodin said. For Belden and other student- athletes, further cuts could mean they lose the ability to upset nationally-ranked teams such as Lehigh -- as the football team did last September. "It was a different feeling beating Harvard and Lehigh," Belden said. Locally this season, Penn's men's soccer team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the women's volleyball team played Penn State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and the men's basketball team dominated large conference opponents, Villanova and USC. Penn's student-athletes have had successes in the classroom as well. Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan, a Daily Pennsylvanian columnist who was named to the first-team All-Ivy volleyball team, has an over-3.9 GPA. There seems to be a strong balance at Penn and in the Ivy League between athletics and academics -- so Bilsky and Belden ponder, why change the system? "The Ivy League is really good right now," Bilsky said. "It's a good model, respects academics and there are a lot of restrictions for student-athletes." "I don't see the logic behind the presidents' decisions," Belden said. "Even though Ivy League athletes are intellectually above other teams, we can compete on the athletic side." Belden also feels that the dichotomy between learning on the field and in the classroom is a false one. "Athletics is not just hitting someone. It is an irreplaceable, educational experience," he said. If the Council decides to weaken Ivy athletics, Penn's strong history of success could potentially be a victim. "Making changes in policy may make the Ivy League into more of a Division III program than Division I," Bilsky said. "I am very concerned about the direction of the Ivy League," Bilsky added.

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