Sometime next month the College will choose its next athletic director (AD). Whomever is hired will take over one of the most successful Div. III athletic programs in the nation, but the new AD will also have plenty of delicate issues with which to deal, such as the prospect of a turf field and the role of the athletic department in the future of the College's admissions. Although these issues will undoubtedly be at the forefront of the department's agenda for the foreseeable future, we feel there is another, less publicized issue that is also deserving of attention.

Every season, intercollegiate teams are forced to compete on weekdays, causing conflicts between classes and athletics. The inopportune scheduling is no fault of the student-athletes, but nonetheless they are the ones who suffer the repercussions. We're sure that the athletic department is more than aware of the difficulties posed by sporting events held during the workweek and does its best to avoid scheduling them, but for some teams a season contested entirely on weekends is an impossibility.

For the student-athletes unfortunate enough to be faced with sports-class conflicts, the department's current policy does little to ameliorate the sometimes tenuous relationship between sports and academics at Amherst. In fact, the policy is part of the problem. Student-athletes must tell their professors ahead of time of possible conflicts and it is up to the professors whether or not the student can attend. While most professors are accommodating, this policy puts student-athletes at an unnecessary disadvantage to their peers in addition to the conflicts they frequently encounter when juggling practices, labs and work opportunities.

No one comes to Amherst to launch a professional sports career. That is not the nature of Div. III sports, especially not at the College on the Hill. So, on some level, student-athletes have to remember that they are here for academics. Nonetheless, sports are a significant part of the lives of Amherst student-athletes-many chose to attend the College over its Ivy League competitors because going to Amherst allowed them to continue their athletic careers. With 32 percent of the student body participating in varsity sports, conflicts between class and sports aren't going away anytime soon. In the future, the College must do a better job of integrating academics and athletics on campus.

A new policy should allow for sporting events (except in some extreme cases) to be considered excused absences. But student-athletes should not get a free pass. Students who intend to miss class for athletic events would be held to strict attendance policies: For every unexcused class missed, the student will receive one less excused sports absence.

Such a policy would do more than help student-athletes attend every contest. Standardizing the policy and making it indepedent of the whims of individual professors will relieve some of the strain between academics and athletics. The administration and the new AD must work to repair this relationship, and a new class-sports protocol is a good place to start.