From 2004 through 2008 I was a member of the UC Davis mMen’s cCross cCountry team and its captain for the 2008 season. Amidst the debate related to student athletes and priority registration, I feel I can offer a few points in addition to those already being discussed.
First, I would like to point out that, increasingly, student athletes are financially subsidized by the university. As part of the transition to Division I that students (now alumni) voted for, this means that student athletes work for the university for all intents and purposes; what they do is their job, and the university allows them to schedule around their “shitty hours.”
Second, universities also have an incentive to protect their investment in student athletes. An inexpensive and indeed free way of doing so is by giving student athletes priority registration to fulfill the NCAA’s regulations. Those regulations, by the way, are far more strict than those applied by UC Davis in many cases. And if anything, the student population should hope athletes do well academically so that the university’s performance and the value of everyone’s degree don’t suffer due to the athletic program.
Third, I would argue that the impacts on the whole are minor and marginal. Of an undergraduate population well over 22,000, student athletes represent just under 5 percent. The problems with class registration are not the fault of a few hundred student athletes. Those problems lie in the administration’s decisions and in Sacramento’s lack of a budget.
Finally, on an individual level, when I registered ahead of other students I knew I was exercising a privilege, not a right. That recognition imbues a sense of responsibility to use the opportunity to its fullest extent. That is, to take the course seriously.
So really, priority registration for student athletes is chump change compared to how many kids get into classes who obviously don’t care and how many students get admitted into a system obviously not designed to serve so many.
A few extra lecturers probably wouldn’t hurt anybody.
K.C. CODY
Class of 2008
