Student Athletes Aren’t All That

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The orange and blue personalized backpack. The plastic gallon of water. The overpowering sense of entitlement. Also known as: SU student athletes.

These phenomena are part of most students' day-to-day lives here on campus. Many of us are used to the sight of that football player in our 8am trudging in half an hour late every day, throwing his bag on the ground, and snoozing through the entire lecture–after all, who needs to worry about grades when athletic scholarships exist?

Unfortunately, the majority of us NARPs (non athletic regular persons) can’t afford this attitude towards classwork, a fact that athletes don’t seem to grasp when we’re inevitably paired with them for group projects. We understand throwing an oblong brown ball and jumping on top of another dude is very crucial to the foundation of society, so we take the hits. Star players seem under the impression that the university exists solely to fit their whims, and can we honestly blame them?

From a monetary standpoint alone, it’s obvious who the SU administration and faculty see as the most important people here–and it isn’t even all athletes! Compare the total ignorance of club sports to the sheer amount of football and basketball warm-up sweats.

Try to remember the last time the university really celebrated any student’s academic accomplishments. Now think back to the last football win and how widely it was advertised. Exactly.

Look, we get that sports are a big motivator for alumni donors and other sponsors to pour money into the school, and it makes sense to focus on them–just not at the expense of students who’d rather focus on academics, or other school-run organizations. Plus, refusing to look critically at the (typically male dominated) sports culture here means perpetuating norms of toxic masculinity found in most pro sports.

So for all those frustrated with the unequal status of athletes and regular students, club sports teams who feel unseen, and varsity players who feel uncomfortable in SU’s atmosphere: we hear you, and we understand. We’ve been there.