Two years ago, the Faculty Committee on Admission and Financial Aid (FCAFA) released a report that showed that the College had significantly lower standards of academics for athletes than it did for non-athletes. This thrust College admissions and athletics policies into the spotlight on campus.
As a result of this report, many faculty members called for change and clarification of the College's policy in admitting athletes.
Parker estimated that there were 70 faculty members at the first meeting addressing athletic admission standards in the fall of 1999. Since then, the meetings have been significantly less attended, with approximately 15 members of the faculty present at last week's meeting, according to Parker.
Parker said that he thinks the drop in attendance "is a sign that the Office of Admission accomplished its goal of raising the bar for athletes seeking admission to the College.
Professor of English Kim Townsend, who chairs the FCAFA and has also attended all three of Parker's meetings, believes that changes in the policy are evident. However, he said that, "A person who doesn't appear at these meetings is also concerned and their concerns are represented. They can confidently assume that their views are being addressed by others."
According to Parker, the objective of "Pieces of the Pie" was to give faculty the opportunity to ask any kind of question concerning admission and athletics and to allow them to "let their hair down without fear of hurting students' feelings." Because of this aim, Parker said that the precise content of the meeting remains confidential.
Parker added that other issues, such as financial aid, were discussed at the meeting.
"[Parker] has a very straightforward, open manner. The kind of stuff he tells us has a nice clear, direct frankness that we find very refreshing," said Professor David Cox, a FCAFA member.
At the start of "Pieces of the Pie," Parker gave a retrospective analysis of the composition of the Class of 2005. Following his presentation, the rest of the meeting was relatively informal, without a set agenda. Rather, the meeting was fueled by questions from faculty members as well as the three students who serve on FCAFA.
The recent NESCAC report on admissions and athletics was not discussed at length at this meeting, according to Parker. "To me, the study is not surprising. It confirms what we'd already found in previous studies," Parker told The Student last week.
The meeting was also kept confidential in order to limit the possibility of hurting athletes' feelings, Parker said. Many athletes reported feeling. estranged when the FCAFA report came out two years ago.
"There is a danger any time you take a group of students and put them on the front page of The Student," Parker said. "It is easier to stigmatize and stereotype them."
"If someone is upset with the admission of athletes, then they should be upset with me, and not take it out on the students," Parker added. "I don't want to go back to the very divisive atmosphere we had a few years ago."
However, some students feel this divide remains. "There is a really big stereotype at this school that the students who play sports here only got into Amherst because of their athletic ability," said Alexa Lawson-Remer '04, a member of the women's soccer team. "This affects how people at this school treat each other and socialize. Automatically some people assume that if someone is good at a sport, they must slack off in class."
Jeff Cantwell '04, a member of the men's soccer team, was offended that athletes were subject to such generalizations. "I consider myself a student here," he said. "Soccer is just part of what I do."
Tim Baldwin '03, who does not participate in athletics at Amherst, echoed this sentiment. "People look at athletes and think that they are the guys who play sports and have parties, not the ones who learn here," he said.
"Athletes," Baldwin continued, "broaden and strengthen the student body. They bring a different type of kid to Amherst."
Justin Jagher '03, a member of the men's hockey team said that he feels slightly stigmatized. But, he also noted another side to stereotypes. "I think that non-athletes probably feel stigmatized by athletes," he said.
"I think some athletes do isolate themselves and deserve the reputations they get," Jagher added. "But I also feel that some non-athletes isolate themselves too, and also deserve their reputation. It's a double-edged sword."
The metaphor of "Pieces of the Pie" is used as a way of representing the constitution of a class, giving, for example, the percentage who are athletes and the percentage who are legacies.
Parker explained that one of the difficulties of a small school is wanting to excel at everything. However, when increasing the percentage of one group, the percentage of another necessarily decreases. "In terms of assembling a student body, it is a zero-sum game," said Parker. "Everyone would like their own piece to be bigger."
Though the "pie" is a convenient way to think about the these issues, the fact is that there are overlaps in different types of students, Townsend said. "Some people may be categorizable in certain contexts. But nobody is just an athlete or just a legacy."