The athletic department and the administration have a great opportunity to improve the relationship between student-athletes and faculty members with their program that provides a faculty liaison to each varsity athletic team.
We strongly support this program and commend the administration and athletic department for recognizing the need for such a program. As much as we may try to deny it, there is an anti-athlete bias on this campus that begins with a small, but loud group of professors and trickles down to the non-athlete students. And as unfortunate as it may be, there are professors on this campus that are known as anti-athlete. In some cases, older teammates tell underclassmen which professors to stay away from when choosing courses. The College stresses acceptance and respect, but does this not apply to professors who single out and judge students based solely on their extracurricular activities?
The faculty liaison program should ease some of the tension between athletes and professors. Hopefully, professors will attend their teams' games, get to know the players off the field, and show them that professors support athletics. By getting to know the athletes personally, the professors will better understand athletes, enabling them to convince other faculty members to form a more positive view of athletes.
The role of the liaison has been intentionally left undefined, and we want to keep it that way. The liaison should not become involved in the day-to-day activities of the team, but should be a visible and supportive presence. Liaisons should be available to the athletes to answer questions or concerns they might have about balancing academics and athletics and anything else that their coach or academic advisor might not be able to help with. However, one problem with the program is that many athletes are not aware of who their liaison is. Hosting a team dinner or sending an introductory e-mail to each team member are great casual ways for the liaison to develop relationships outside of the classroom.
Ultimately, it is up to the coach, liaison professor and players to determine the liaison role. We urge all parties to take advantage of this opportunity, while being careful not to impose or infringe upon the other parties' bailiwicks.