2008 Woodie Awards
Group 6 decision overdue
Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: Editorial
Efforts to earn DePauw's student-athletes PE credit for participating in sports were finally justified with faculty endorsement on Monday. Far from an overnight issue on campus, this change has been recommended to the Committee on Academic Policy and Planning by multiple Student Congresses in recent years.
It isn't unheard of for students to receive credit for extracurricular activities. For examples, look no further than the names in our staff box in any given issue. Students with leadership positions in campus media including The DePauw, WGRE, D3TV, The Mirage and others receive fractions of credits for their participation each semester. As will now be the case with athletes, this credit goes toward fulfilling one of the University's specific group requirements while not counting toward the total credits needed for graduation.
This set-up seems like a common-sense compromise: students participating in athletics are most certainly meeting DePauw's standards of physical fitness, so giving them PE credit frees up their schedule to take other types of classes. But making this credit not count toward graduation ensures that athletes do not leave DePauw with any less of a challenging learning experience.
Not only will this change help athletes, but non-athletes attempting to get into high-demand PE courses benefit as well. With fewer people competing for these courses, more students will have the opportunity get into a PE class they enjoy.
The advantages of giving athletes academic credit have been spelled-out enough times in this newspaper that it should come as no surprise that The DePauw endorses the faculty's vote as a positive change for the student body.
It isn't unheard of for students to receive credit for extracurricular activities. For examples, look no further than the names in our staff box in any given issue. Students with leadership positions in campus media including The DePauw, WGRE, D3TV, The Mirage and others receive fractions of credits for their participation each semester. As will now be the case with athletes, this credit goes toward fulfilling one of the University's specific group requirements while not counting toward the total credits needed for graduation.
This set-up seems like a common-sense compromise: students participating in athletics are most certainly meeting DePauw's standards of physical fitness, so giving them PE credit frees up their schedule to take other types of classes. But making this credit not count toward graduation ensures that athletes do not leave DePauw with any less of a challenging learning experience.
Not only will this change help athletes, but non-athletes attempting to get into high-demand PE courses benefit as well. With fewer people competing for these courses, more students will have the opportunity get into a PE class they enjoy.
The advantages of giving athletes academic credit have been spelled-out enough times in this newspaper that it should come as no surprise that The DePauw endorses the faculty's vote as a positive change for the student body.
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