U. athletes must meet strict academic rules

Penn student-athletes have to live up to strict academic guidelines -- some of the most stringent in the Ivy League. But if they don't meet those requirements, a strong but regimented advising system is in place for their assistance. The Ivy League requires athletes simply to demonstrate "satisfactory progress" in order to participate in athletic activities, according to Associate Vice Provost for University Life and Athletic Eligibility Officer Larry Moneta. But Penn's requirements go far beyond those minimum standards. Student-athletes must maintain a cumulative 2.0 grade point average while completing at least eight courses in the previous two semesters. If an athlete falls below these standards, he or she can seek academic assistance before being suspended indefinitely from athletics, Moneta said. "You basically get one chance when you've fallen below par to recover," Moneta said, adding that the athletes can devise an academic plan in conjunction with an advisor. "They're individualized by the student and the advisor." The plan requires the athlete either to take tutoring sessions or additional courses, depending on the individual circumstances, according to Moneta. If a student fails to meet the plan's requirements, he or she would be suspended from further athletic participation. Unlike the processes at other Ivy League schools, Penn's eligibility process is largely based on empirical data. Currently, Penn has 27 student-athletes on academic performance plans, which Moneta calls "not an astronomical number" in light of the 1,300 athletes on Penn sports teams. While Penn has high academic requirements and a comprehensive advising system for its athletes, other Ivy League schools have less defined policies, Moneta said. Yale University, for example, has no established guidelines or advising system for its athletes. Instead, it groups its athletes with all other students at the university, according to Yale's Associate Athletic Director Colleen Lim. As with all students at Yale, if an athlete does not fulfill each year's course requirements, he or she will have to make up the courses outside of Yale, according to Lim. Cornell University's policy for determining academic eligibility is more defined than Yale's, but is still not as comprehensive as Penn's system, according to Cornell Assistant Director of Athletics Virginia Augusta. Like Yale, Cornell makes no distinction between its athletes and non-athletes. Augusta said the minimum GPA required for a student to continue studying at Cornell ranges between 1.8 and 2.0, depending on the individual college within the university. And if an athlete falls below this cutoff, no advising system is established for assistance. Columbia University's academic eligibility policies for its athletes are similar to Penn's, but still are largely subjective, said Columbia Associate Athletic Director Jacqueline Blackett. If an athlete does not meet the school's course requirements, a committee of deans allows him or her to take the classes necessary to get back on track, Blackett said. The student's progress is evaluated the following semester, she added. But Columbia does not require its athletes to maintain a minimum GPA.

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