Quakers earn high academic ranking

The NCAA, in response to growing concern over the academic problems of its athletes, has developed a new measure of academic progress.

Thirty percent of football teams and 20 percent of men's college basketball teams at the Division I level fell below the minimum standard of academic progress, called the academic progress rate (APR).

While the news was as a whole discouraging on the national front, the athletic department at Penn can be proud of the school's performance.

The University finished third among all Division I schools with a score of 993 out of a possible 1,000. Only Yale with a 999 and Princeton with a 994 ranked higher.

Dartmouth was lowest among Ivy schools with a 966 score, just one point above the private school average.

This means that the Quakers are maintaining high standards in the classroom as well as on the field, where the Red and Blue has won league championships in seven sports -- including football and men's basketball -- since the start of the 2003-04 school year.

Among measured Penn teams, only baseball, football and lacrosse (the sports are not measured by gender) did not have a perfect score.

"It's nice to score high," Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky said. "I don't know if it means anything to be third or first or 12th, just as long as your score is indicating that you're doing the right job.

"We spend a lot of attention on the admissions of student athletes. We don't just get a list and then sign them up for admission and hope for the best."

And, as Bilsky notes, the amount of attention paid to the academic progress of athletes is much greater at Penn than it is at most other institutions.

"We put a lot of onus on monitoring and supporting the student athlete. We have good liaisons on campus. If someone needs help, we know who to talk to. And our coaches really care about the well-being of the student. When all's said and done, the likelihood of staying here and graduating is very high."

Unfortunately, most of the big-time college athletic programs, including many scholarship schools from the six conferences that make up football's Bowl Championship Series, are not as vigilant in tracking academic progress.

Alarm over the continued lackluster performance of college athletes in the classroom has led to the creation of the APR standard.

Under the new rules, each Division I program must maintain an APR score of 925 to avoid being penalized in scholarships and/or postseason bans. In addition to reflecting grades, the measure docks universities for players that transfer, drop out or turn pro.

Some have criticized the system for penalizing schools that have students transfer. Bilsky believes that the system could use some tinkering.

"If someone transfers, but transfers in good academic standing, that actually counts against the school you transfer from," Bilsky said. "And I'm not sure from a fairness standpoint if that makes a lot of sense."

Indeed, many mid-major Division I basketball programs have thrived off of receiving transfers from BCS schools. Key transfers helped to lead Wisconsin-Milwaukee into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament this past season.

Bilsky, for his part, is against any change that would negatively affect smaller programs.

Under the new guidelines, these smaller schools should not be affected as much as those from the BCS Conferences.

Of this year's 65 men's NCAA Tournament teams, 31 had an APR score below 925. Although a school must be a repeat offender to incur sanctions, a school's APR could have a very real impact on its candidacy for postseason honors.

"You could have a men's basketball tournament and a number of teams in the country could be ineligible to compete," said Diane Dickman, NCAA managing director for support services.

Ultimately, the NCAA is hopeful that the new system will place an emphasis on recruiting good students as well as good athletes.

Luckily for the Penn athletic department, it has been a point of emphasis here for some time. The pressure is on for the rest of Division I to catch up.

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