Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
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03-28-19 12:12 AM - Post#282935
In response to Old Bison
And I’ll also go back to my original point about loyalty being a two way street. If the kid has an extra year of eligibility through no fault of his own then the University’s position is unsupportable. The kid accepted a scholarship to play ball in tandem with getting a degree. If he has a year of eligibility left than he is a senior with respect to his original agreement to compete athletically at the NCAA D1 level. How can the University prohibit that. If he’s qualified academically for admission to the grad school than the University’s position would be laughed at in a court of law. He’s being discriminated against and not being allowed to fulfill his potential under the terms of his scholarship. I’m no lawyer but if he takes Buck to court he kicks the school’s butt if I’m on that jury.
If an athlete could make a strong case for really wanting the Master's degree - as opposed to simply wanting to do the program to gain another year of eligibility - it likely wouldn't be a problem. However Bucknell offers very few Master's programs - mostly Education and Engineering - which is a big issue. Last year there was a total of 31 grad students admitted.
Bucknell offers very few Master's programs - mostly Education and Engineering - which is a big issue. Most athletes do not have strong credentials to get into one of those two programs. Last year there were a total of 31 grad students admitted in all departments combined.
Stephen Tyree went for some sort of Educational administration program, but I don't think his interest level was very high. And it took a LONG time for him to gain admission since he was not an Education major.
As for Bucknell's position in a court of law, they would be on extremely strong ground. First, the athletes we are discussing all are going to earn their degrees in four years. Bucknell didn't promise anyone a 5th year once they had completed their degree. Secondly, in most cases, athletic scholarships have a one-year duration. Bucknell normally honors it for four years, as they should, but there is nothing in writing that makes it automatically renewable for as long as the athlete likes.
Having said this, it is clear that other PL schools have a lot less integrity than Bucknell when it comes to OK'ing a 5th year for an athlete. There are numerous 5th year athletes in many PL sports every year - but virtually none are from Bucknell. The only exception would be an athlete who transferred in (rare), who requires five years to fulfill graduation requirements. Or the very rare case (Alex Pechin) of a five-year engineer.
If Bucknell wanted to level the playing field, it would need to start being reasonable about athletes taking on a second major, with a curriculum that would carry into a fifth year. That would solve the problem of having almost no relevant graduate programs.
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