Nic Wrestles With Policy That Gives Athletes First Pick Of Classes
A North Idaho College policy allowing athletes to pick their classes before others has teachers and some students outraged.
Handling of the situation by school administrators has created a stir of its own.
When faculty members revisited the months-old debate in a meeting last week, college President Bob Bennett booted out two staff members of the Sentinel, the student newspaper. Friday, the newspaper responded with a story and an editorial.
An administrative committee is considering altering the 3-year-old policy. A decision is expected next week.
Athletes, nursing students and those in technical programs enroll in classes a day before other students. During registration for this semester, faculty members said, students began to complain.
“The faculty has been asked, `what makes them (athletes, nurses, etc.) more important than me?”’ said David Lindsay, dean of students. “It’s a good question.”
The handful of nursing and technical students register early because they are required to take a few courses that are difficult to get into, Bennett said. The college’s 200 athletes enroll early to guarantee their schedules won’t conflict with practice and travel.
“Our school, the institution, imposed restrictions on their schedules” with sports practices and travel, Bennett said.
Many of the college’s 3,036 students weren’t aware of the policy until this year, when changes in other registration policies made it more apparent, said Registrar Karen Streeter. Teacher reaction was often heated.
English teacher Fay Wright told other staffers she was shocked, angered and frustrated.
“…I for one thought schools, like public libraries, were one of the few places where democracy had a chance, where law for one is law for all,” she wrote in a Dec. 12 letter to administrators. “Clearly, I was wrong.”
Teachers critical of the policy said single mothers and people who drive long distances should be given such treatment. Other teachers asked why band members, speech students and other school-sponsored special interest groups weren’t included.
Supporters, like counselor Bob Newell, argued that many sports - woman’s basketball, for instance - have to fight with other sports and intramural activities for court time. The team can’t shuffle practices to accommodate a mish-mash of class schedules, he said.
Faculty members agreed to address the issue at an ad-hoc committee meeting last week. Bennett said he asked Sentinel staffer Rachel Williams and another reporter to leave because their presence would hamper open debate.
“I felt there were going to be things said I didn’t want quoted,” Bennett said.
The paper responded with an editorial. Paying students “should not have to pave the road for the president’s or anyone else’s power trip,” the editorial stated.