As a two-sport student-athlete, I was deeply disturbed by the recent opinion this paper ran entitled “It’s Actually Just a Game” and by the student body’s response to it. As a native to Chapel Hill, NC — home to UNC, a university whose athletic integrity is currently being questioned — I thought of athletic privilege as a primarily Division I problem. The “system that fetishizes athletics,” to use the authors’ language, felt absent from Middlebury’s highly academic campus. Yes, there can be a noted divide between varsity athletes and the rest of the students socially, but I, like many, saw this as simply a function of who we spend the most time with.
Hannah and Isaac, the piece’s authors, instead saw an entrenched culture of preference for athletics over other interests. For many non-varsity athletes, this analysis resonated with them. For many varsity athletes, the piece felt like an attack on their personal decisions to dedicate extensive time and energy to playing for Middlebury.
The article seems to imply that student-athletes are victims of a system that forces them to spend too much time on learning unhelpful skills like “the ability to chase a ball.” However, the very reason I have chosen to spend a huge portion of my life on the court or on the track is the incredible experiences sports offer. More than any brief leadership course or intramural season can, sports allow student-athletes to push themselves to perform at the highest level, to set goals for personal growth, to take leadership roles, to make hard decisions in desperate situations, to work in a team in a high-stress environment and to work toward long-term shared goals. These skills all transfer to the world we will enter after graduating from Middlebury — maybe even more than the ability to write a five-page paper on the prevalence of HIV in adolescent South African women. All kinds of learning should be embraced at a liberal arts institution like Middlebury.
The implications of having a balanced education go beyond including athletics to including entrepreneurship, the arts and other less traditional academic pursuits. Middlebury is constantly striving to provide more resources for students with different interests, a mission which should absolutely be supported — just not at the expense of another kind of learning.
When I was applying to colleges, I decided to go to Middlebury because it was a top academic school that had a very active, engaged student body. I chose a Division III school so that I could receive a high-quality education and continue to explore my love of sports simultaneously. Since arriving, I have met incredible students who are active and engaged, but most of all who are incredibly busy. They are busy because, athlete and non-athlete alike, they divide their time between academics and the ten other passions they pursue on the side. I, for one, work nine hours a week, had a radio show last semester, am in GlobeMed, was able to take MiddCORE, am a newspaper editor now, and, yes, compete on the volleyball and track and field teams. My fellow student-athletes do a capella, teach yoga, do community service, join clubs and participate in all kinds of activities on campus in addition to going to practice every day. This doesn’t make us superheroes that should be idolized. It just means we are like any other Middlebury student — committed, hardworking and passionate. One of those passions is our sport.
An important point the authors raised was the preferential treatment student-athletes receive during the admissions process. Ideally, all extracurriculars would have the potential to boost an applicant’s status in the way that sports sometimes do, so long as the applicant demonstrated comparable levels of commitment and passion for their favorite activity. In the same way a lifetime of playing on elite travel teams, dedicating long practices to the pursuit of excellence in sports and an intention to continue that journey in college stands out on an application, I hope that having spent long hours at the pottery wheel, taking pottery courses and an intention to continue crafting at the College would stand out in a similar way. At this point, the next step in moving forward in the debate over athletic privilege may be breaking down the admissions process and reexamining how applicants’ packets are reviewed. In the end, we may need to reevaluate our priorities in admitting new students into our community.
Ultimately, being a Middlebury student is about excellence. Students get in because they are smart and are also outstanding in their extracurriculars — whether that be hiking, singing, debate or athletics. Hannah and Isaac’s article has sparked an intense debate over the place of athletics at Middlebury and in higher education in general. This is a conversation that must continue with thoughtfulness and empathy despite its divisive origin. Addressing divisions on campus, socially and academically, is a must in order to foster the tight-knit community we aspire to become. Athletics and academics can go hand-in-hand, peacefully and compatibly, if we work as a community to address the existing animosity.
It’s Actually Just a Really, Really Great Game
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