New Penn president will affect Ivy athletic policy

Among Amy Gutmann's new responsibilities as Penn's eighth president will be to oversee the school's athletics program.

While the Penn Athletic Department reports directly to the Office of the Provost and not the President's Office, Gutmann will still play an influential role in shaping athletic policies both at Penn and throughout the Ivy League.

Unlike other athletic conferences, in which most decision-making power is vested in the schools' athletic directors, the Ivy League places such power in the hands of its schools' presidents.

Each spring, the Council of Ivy Group Presidents meets to discuss various issues facing the league at large. This meeting features a discussion on athletic rules, which are often debated and amended.

While Gutmann's first such meeting is not until this coming spring, she has already begun to shape her views on Ancient Eight athletic policy.

"The Ivy League has a great tradition of scholar-athletes," she said. "It's a tradition that we can only move forward if we stay together as a league. We can move forward because we have such a great reputation as far as the education we provide."

Gutmann who says she plans to attend Penn's football and basketball games and sit with the students agrees with current Ivy bylaws which forbid athletic scholarships.

"I am absolutely dedicated to the idea that we should not give scholarships except on the basis of need," she said. "And it works. We have terrific student-athletes here.

"We play in the Ivy League and we maintain high standards of academic as well as athletic expectations. But we're not the Big Ten."

Opponents of this scholarship ban have argued that the Ivy League cannot attract the nation's top athletes who often receive free rides to non-Ivy schools. These opponents cite universities like Stanford and Duke as examples of schools which offer scholarships but still maintain academic excellence.

Gutmann argues, however, that it's nothing to be ashamed of if Penn isn't winning NCAA championships.

"I think students who want to come to Penn want to come for everything it has to offer," she said. "And one of the great things it has to offer is the kind of athletics with which [students] can identify. [People who attend Penn] don't have to just be athletes or just be students.

"It's a great asset that Penn has, that it has these wonderful student-athletes and great teams who want to play by the rules and win by the rules. But the more winning teams we have, the better, as far as I'm concerned."

Gutmann was assertive that athletes should not receive special treatment in the admissions process.

"I count on our dean of Admissions and our director of Financial Aid, as well as our Athletics director, to play by the rules," she said. "And the rules are that everyone gets treated on the basis of need."

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