In 2021, alumni donations through the Penn Champions Club raised over $241 million for competitive excellence, student-athlete experience, attracting talent, and campus engagement. Athletics is inherently different from other extracurriculars as it contributes to school spirit, entertainment, and donations in ways that other extracurriculars do not. When speaking to professors and faculty about this, I’m often faced with the rebuttal that sports are an optional extracurricular and shouldn’t be excused, just like job interviews or case competitions. We would all really appreciate the University recognizing the work we put in during season by declaring absences for sports competition as excused.” Athletes really do the most to try and make it work on our end. One survey respondent said, “I had to drop a class because a professor said the exam I was going to miss would be my dropped exam for that class by default, and then I wouldn’t have had any grades in the class before the drop deadline to know my standing in the class or what to expect with the exam style.” Another respondent explained their frustration well: “As an athlete, it’s already tough enough to make schedules without receiving any priority, so when we are able to make a schedule during our seasons, it is so tough to be penalized for something we are required to attend. Penn’s student-athletes feel passionately about this, driven by their past experiences. Over 60% of respondents had lost points in a class due to an athletic competition and 40% had dropped a course because the professor was not accommodating of their athletic competition.
To understand the true extent of this issue, last spring, I conducted a survey among seven Penn Athletics teams, gaining responses from roughly 30% of Penn’s student-athletes. The result is student-athletes regularly calculating if they can afford to miss a quiz, using the syllabus’ permitted absences and hoping they don’t get sick at another time, or, worst of all, dropping the course. As noted, some professors accommodate this conflict, but many do not. In the likely event that there is, an athlete must contact their professor, ask to be excused from class, and arrange to make up any in-class assignments, quizzes, or exams they would miss. Once schedules are finalized, athletes wait for the athletics department to release their game schedule and cross their fingers in hopes that there are no competitions that conflict with their classes.
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Creating a standardized course absence policy would have an enormous impact on increasing the support student-athletes need to succeed on and off the field.ĭuring Penn’s advance registration period, student-athletes must strategically rank classes to obtain a schedule that is accommodating of practice times, as NCAA bylaws mandate that no student-athlete can miss class for practice.
This inconsistent support can be frustrating for student-athletes, especially when it hinders their academic success. Others do not allow student-athletes to make up missed work that results from athletic competitions. Some professors attend games and allow required work to be made up when class conflicts with competitions. In season, athletes spend over 25 hours a week at practice, competitions, weight training, film sessions, injury treatment, team meetings, and more.ĭespite this strong commitment, support for student-athletes throughout Penn is inconsistent. This success begins with a commitment to this University and its respective sports. These 988 individuals train year-round to represent Penn to the best of their ability, both on the field and in the classroom, winning Olympic medals, earning All-American honors, securing teaching assistant positions, and making the honor roll.
You might not notice an athlete in your class if it weren’t for their bright blue Powerade bottle, but they make up nearly 10% of Penn’s undergraduate student body.
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