By snoadmin
Academics and athletics often seem to be opposing interests for college students, but the staff of the Bickerstaff Academic Center for Student-Athletes (BAC) is trying to ensure that Long Beach State’s student-athletes are exercising their minds as well as their bodies.
“About 55 percent of student-athletes are pre-baccalaureate, about the same as the university,” said Gayle Fenton, the director for the Student Athlete Services. “We’re a microcosm of the university. … [The student- athletes at Long Beach State are] very academically diverse, culturally diverse … [they] are a mirror of the university in that way.”
Part of the academic process for athletes includes a special University 100 course through the Student Athlete Services, which teaches students how to balance their scholastic, athletic and work-related obligations. There also is mandatory counseling for student-athletes each semester to choose the optimal courses for students.
“Student-athletes are prevented from registering. We put a hold on their account until they come see us,” Fenton said.
BAC has five counselors who each advise at least one team. Other services provided by SAS are group tutoring, learning specialists and one-on-one tutoring, which is paid for by either the athletics department or the student.
“What’s different about Long Beach State is that we are not a part of the athletics department; we’re a part of Academic Advising, we report to them,” Fenton said. “The relationship [between the athletics department and the student-athletic services] is symbiotic. Coaches give us information about students who have special needs and we try to accommodate them.”
Even with the services provided by the Bickerstaff center, some students slip through the cracks. Michelle Turner, a former member of the women’s softball team who was named Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year two seasons ago, lost eligibility after her grades dropped below NCAA standards.
“We provide all the supplemental services we can,” Fenton said. “Coaches can make services [at the Bickerstaff Academic Center] mandatory. Students can swipe their ID card and we send a report to coaches. … We need our head coaches to show a real interest in academics, which they do.”
Another problem that can happen despite the help of the staff at the advising center is one between students and professors.
“Some professors give you a hard time,” said Jessica Branger, a senior kinesiology major and a member of the women’s track team. “You always have to take tests before you travel, so you get less time to study than your classmates. If you ask to take the test when you get back, some professors say you’re getting too much time to study.”
After an athlete has completed athletic eligibility, if he or she still needs classes to graduate, the athletic department foots the bill. The department pays the rest of the student’s tuition on the condition that the student works on campus within the athletic department until he or she graduates.
Mariko Crum is one of those students. A former member of the women’s volleyball team, she is completing her last semester as a biology major, working at BAC with the athletics department paying her tuition.
For international student-athletes, the Director of International Student-Athlete Services Rebecca Groff assists students in obtaining visas, health insurance and passports, and helps them with any other help they may need.
Since 1995, graduation rates of student-athletes at Long Beach State have increased from 23 percent to 56 percent, according to Fenton. “If you include those who have stayed [at LBSU], who are not actively on their teams either because of injury or something else … graduation rates are near 85 percent,” Fenton said.
The surge in academic success among student athletes at Long Beach State can be attributed to many things. In 2003, the NCAA changed requirements for athletes to be eligible to compete, mandating that 40 percent of a student’s degree be completed in two years; a jump from the previous 25 percent degree completion required under the old rules.
The NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate also increased as of March 2006, requiring that each team be at a .925 APR. If a team is not at the new APR level for that season, its scholarship funding is cut by 10 percent the next year, putting the pressure on teams to keep athletes’ GPAs high.
Also, in 2001, the school’s Academic Senate passed legislation requiring that student-athletes present their teachers with a form informing the professor of the student’s athlete status. The new university policy required students to present teachers with all of the student’s travel dates within the first week of school.
Another major change in the operations of the Student-Athletic Services came not from changes in legislation but from a change of location. In 2006, with the help of a $625,000 donation from Glen and Debbie Bickerstaff, the advising center moved from its one-room location in the PE building. The new Bickerstaff Academic Center is nearly three times larger than the former advising site and located outside the PE building, south of the Steve and Nini Horn Center.
