Football Favoritism at F.S.U.: The Price One Teacher Paid
Article Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/sports/ncaafootball/florida-state-football.html?mcubz=0Discussion Question(s):
- What may cause issues of academic integrity to go unreported at big time sports schools?
-What can be done to deter issues like this from occurring?
- Ms. Suggs, the teacher in question, was a graduate student at the time of these events. If you were in her position, what would you have done?
-Does this damage FSU's reputation? To what degree?
It seems as though it is pretty common for teachers to pad grades for athletes. Everybody at these state, sport-centered schools LOVE their teams. The sports are a big reason on why somebody chooses where they go to college or work at. They go to every game and cheer on their teams as much as they can. They're sports superfans. It would be such a shame if an athlete or the team were taken out of the game for something other than an injury. Therefore, this is why issues of academic integrity go unnoticed. The teachers don’t want to be at fault for a player’s suspension. Even more so, they want to be able to watch THEIR students play in the games and win. They take pride in teaching these athletes. And the last thing they want to be known for is failing the athletes; everybody at these schools would ostracize them. As a result, the teachers’ love for sport trumps their need todo their job. And therefore, the academic integrity issues go unnoticed.
ReplyDeleteBiased professors and team-supporting organizations pressure teachers into giving their student-athletes better grades so they can play their sport. In order to prevent issues like this from continuing, a more standardized grading policy involving little to no subjective teacher input and more strict deadlines and due dates should be implemented. If I were in Mr. Suggs's position, I would most likely have done the same thing because it's wrong to treat the athletes differently than the rest of the students. This undoubtedly damages FSU's reputation because it shows how some of their student-athletes plagiarized others' work and got grades that do not reflect their effort or ability to meet deadlines for assignments. This has significantly worsened FSU's reputation because it shows the lack of dedication of some of its athletes to their academics, making the school less appealing to those that care about both sports and academia. In most schools, plagiarism is punished by being expelled. Understandably, college athletes are forced to devote a lot of their time to practicing and training, but at the same time, they are surely allowed time to do their schoolwork and the examples shown of such from some of these athletes were "barely grade-school level."
ReplyDelete1. A lot of things can cause issues of academic integrity to go unreported at big time sports schools, but in my opinion it's all about money. These big time sports schools that are able to bring in five star recruits every year gain an insane amount of money to the school. Some schools may be willing to sacrifice academic integrity if it ensures star players playing in games. Some players in the article such as Kelvin Benjamin and Tre' Jackson went on to be drafted by the NFL. These are big time players that bring in a tremendous amount of money and winning which brings recognition to a school. The allure of glory may be enough for some schools to sacrifice the academic integrity.
ReplyDelete2. I am not sure what can be done to deter these issues. The first thing you can do is hold the teachers and the students more accountable for their work and their grades and use the ability to play a game as a motivational privilege not a forgone right. Stricter punishments for teachers and students could also deter students from cheating the system and sacrificing academic integrity. Ultimately, it will be up to the school to keep close tabs to ensure that academic integrity is sustained because someone will always try to find a way to cheat the system.
3. Ms. Suggs was placed in an incredibly difficult situation. She had to balance academic integrity with the necessity to keep her job and the urge to be able to help the student athletes succeed in the classroom to ensure their availability for the game. I think I would have had private conversations with the students to let them know that I knew they were cheating and then give them a fair warning before mentioning anything to someone else. I would help them and go easy on their assignments because they face different circumstances than the other students. After class, they have to be 100% focused on football. If a player is gearing up for a national championship game, would you really expect him or her to be focused on what they learned in math that day or what's due for English homework. A little bit of sympathy and understanding is required. However, if after warnings, the players continue to cheat, I would notify the higher ups about the situation and let them know the behavior is unacceptable.
4. From a football perspective I do not believe this damages FSU's reputation. To me the only thing that matters from a football standpoint is how the players perform during games and how many games are won. However, from a moral and morale standpoint I do believe FSU's reputation takes a bit of a hit. If I were a regular student at FSU and I work really hard and get an A on a paper, and a football player copies and pastes his entire paper from the internet and gets the same grade as me just so he can play in the game on Saturday, I would be incredibly upset. So from a football perspective, no their reputation is intact. However, from a moral standpoint their reputation is damaged.
I think that issues of academic integrity go unreported at big time sports schools because these schools don't want to lose their players. This is all because they make lots of money from sports and the athletes are what make the teams great. These schools value the money they make from their sports teams more than the academic integrity of their student athletes. I think if the student athletes enroll in classes that they know they can succeed in and receive help from tutors and other services, then they won't get bad grades and pressure teachers into giving them grades they don't deserve. If I was in Ms. Suggs position I would have tried to find ways to help these athletes such as giving them extra help, but I wouldn't allow them to cheat or give them grades they don't earn. I might give them warnings and tell them to put some more effort in their work. This does not affect FSUs sports programs that much because they have huge, well funded, and appealing sports teams that athletes will go to. They won't be affected in their performance very much and will still get high level athletes. I think this might affect how average students that don't play sports at FSU feel. If people know that athletes are given advantages that they don't get, they may not want to attend FSU.
ReplyDeleteIssues of academic integrity go unreported because many big time sports schools tend to value winning. If valuable players were often getting in trouble due to academic integrity that may cause their sports team to lose and therefore hurt the schools reputations. However, if issues such as academic integrity were swept under the carpet per say then the sports teams won't lose their valuable players and therefore will win which then keeps the reputation.
ReplyDelete2) Some ideas of ways to stop issues like this from occurring may be to hold students more accountable for providing their work and only their work. However I do find that issues like academic integrity it isn't just the students job to play their part, but also the teachers. The teacher needs to be a responsible adult and not care about things such as winning, but more so of how the person is doing academically. Overall it's both the students, and the teacher's job to preserve academic integrity.
3) I think that Ms. Suggs did her best to uphold academic integrity however I think instead of completely disregarding the idea of helping the student she should have instead made a compromise such as doing extra work or putting more time into his work.
-Does this damage FSU's reputation? To what degree?
4) I think that this for sure because to me as soon as an article like this is published it causes others to wonder if this is happening more often but not being caught, yes this is just one example, however many times if you get caught once it most likely isn't the first time something such as cheating or violating their academic integrity has occurred.
Academic integrity going “unnoticed” is nothing new to colleges these days. If we look at the history of it, the NAACP has new polities because of schools like Georgia Southern University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Syracuse University. All of these schools, including Florida State University have two things in common: huge sports fan bases and academic misconduct. When you attend or work at a school that is sports driven, you love your team so why would you want to be responsible for said player missing a game or being benched? You wouldn’t. No one wants to be “that teacher” who got a player suspended and therefore they lost the championship, they would be hated on. It’s not only about losing but it sheds light on a topic that no college/university wants to be tied with. In the FSU/Ms. Suggs example I completely agree with her when she says that he should have done the work just like everyone else but maybe an extension could have been offered on some assignments? I'm not saying full leniency but some students need to play and play successfully in order to uphold their tuition/ position at the school.
ReplyDeleteFootball is definitely one of the factors that represents a university. A lot of the students that attend to these universities pick the school depending on how good the football team is. Since it's very competitive in the collegiate level, all teams want to get the best of players from around the country, who may not necessarily be as good academically as they are athletically. Especially in the big schools such as Michigan, USC, Clemson, and in this case FSU, football players are seen as very valuable members of the college, regardless whether they are successful students or not. One of the reasons why these issues of academic integrity could go unreported at big time sports schools is because of the amount of money the football program brings to the school. Another reason could be so that the school can play the best possible players on the field, be successful during the season, and potentially fight for a national championship that would bring national recognition and bring in a lot of money. It's definitely hard being in the teachers' situation because there is always pressure coming from all around, including from coaches. In the article, Ms. Suggs clearly felt the pressure of giving the student-athletes grades or treatment that they didn't necessarily deserve. "The professor, Mark Bonn, who ran the hospitality courses, instructed Ms. Suggs to work with Mr. Wilder — he referred to him as “a starting star running back,” before noting that all students should be treated equally — and give him a chance to make up past assignments and submit missing portions of his final project, even though it had already been graded"(McIntire), shows clearly that Bonn was essentially instructing Ms. Suggs to treat in a more special way by stating who Wilder was. If I were in her place, I wouldn't want to be the professor/teacher that was in fault of a loss in a game or championship because I flunked one of the players, therefore I would seek for help from someone that could handle this situation and could understand the pressure that's being put on. This case gives FSU a somewhat bad reputation. If regular students see that athletes are getting treated differently without even doing their assignments or work, they would have the right to get mad at not only the teacher but the college itself. Also, when players who are technically ineligible to play have their grades bumped up, it's not fair to the hundreds and thousands of other STUDENT-athletes that work hard both in the classroom and on the field.
ReplyDeleteI think that it damages their reputation to some people, but strengthens it to others. The school is viewed lower by most people because the teacher was fired for treating all the students the same. Most people would agree that by letting football players cheat and not adequately participate in their classes, it doesn't allow the students to get a good education. So in this way, people would think poorly of FSU for not giving their football players a good education. On the other hand, I think that some football recruits would be happy to know that the teachers give them more slack in the classroom, so FSU might get some better players for firing the teacher. In effect, this would also increase the popularity of the school. Overall, though, I think the story is damaging to the reputation because it portrays FSU as a school that cares more about football than academics.
ReplyDeleteWe all know today football is Americas most watched sport. I think there are many reasons behind academic integrity and it going unreported in big collage football schools. In big schools sometimes football is their biggest attraction. When the team is looking good and ready to beat the rest sometimes there are some players on that team that are not passing in school. Teachers in this case can feel pressured to help out some of these athletes that do not deserve the grades. When a teacher does this they are not only giving away grades to kids that don't deserve them but they are making it unequal treatment between all the students at the school. Many schools have been doing this for years and that is why most of it is still "unnoticed". Even when athletes are granted alternate assignments it is unfair to the other students who are doing the first given task. One way of fixing this is by having an improved grading system and have a double check system to make sure each student deserves there grades and don't get them given to them so they can go out on the field and just play a sport.
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ReplyDeleteDoes this damage FSU's reputation? To what degree?
I believe this damages Florida State’s reputation, but to a small degree. I believe it minimally affects the school because other schools are probably doing the same thing, but this time, Florida State got caught. In 2004, an Auburn player received an award for scholar athlete in his Sociology major. When the director of Sociology saw the athlete receiving the award, he couldn’t recall teaching or ever seeing the athlete in class. He then asked the two other directors, and they had never seen him either. The athlete had never shown up to one class. When the Academic files were reviewed, the Athletes at Auburn were receiving high grades with no attendance, and very little work. When comparing these two cases, I believe the Auburn case is much worse than the Florida State case. Although it’s still not acceptable for either schools, comparing the two cases, the Florida State incident really isn’t that bad. Despite the fact that the Florida State athlete was missing a lot of work, the student at least showed up to class and put in some effort. After reviewing the problem, and comparing it to other similar cases, it’s quite obvious that this particular case should minimally affect Florida State's reputation.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article on the FSU football team it is pretty obvious that teams pad the grades of star players on the team their is no doubt about it. This teachers want to see this players suckseed and they're not going to see that if they are academically ineligible. And that's why they pad the grades. But it's not always just the teachers they are also getting pressured by the administration to keep their star players on the field at any coast. Teacher and the school need to put in more programs to help this athlete at least try and go it themself programs such as mandatory tutoring to systems to check work and help the player correct it. Teachers need to move back dates that projects and assignments are due to help this players out. I know that nobody she be treated differently but you have to think that this player are playing at one of the highest D1 schools and that's why they went to play for that school that is why the grades were padded or unnoticed. If i was in Ms. suggs potion I probably would have done the same thing I would have thought it was wrong but i wouldn't want to lose my jobs.
I believe that college football is huge nationwide, especially at a school like FSU. In order to compete with top schools such as Alabama, it is understandable that the schools will need the best possible athletes that they can get, regardless of how smart they are. When top football players come to the school, it is clear that they are there to play football. I believe that this is why the teachers may feel pressured to let things slide, or give the athletes a break in the classes. The football team is very popular around that area, and the teacher would not want to be responsible for a player missing a game, or the season because of academic issues. I feel that even though this is a bad thing, it will continue to happen because of the pressure that the teachers face to pass these students.
ReplyDeleteRyan Fincher
ReplyDeleteMany issues of academic integrity go unreported at big time sports schools because the players are not there to learn. The players are there to play football. The coaches give them scholarships based off there playing ability not test scores. These players are not motivated in the classroom. They know that if they do not pass they will get special treatment. To stop this from happening players deserve extra time on assignments because of their schedules. However they must do the assignments well with college level thinking. Also the players can be given tutors for their schoolwork. They make so much money for the school that adding staff is the least the university can do.
Dynasty. That's my only word for the reason for academic integrity going unreported at big time sports schools. Alabama, FSU, Ohio State, USC, etc. all are colleges and universities at which there is a longstanding tradition of football and other division 1 athletics. Sometimes, teachers and professors attended the school before returning to teach, and some probably even played sports in college, so they may have some sort of premeditated idea that the athletes are relatively academically challenged. Therefore, they take it into their own hands to make sure the players do well. Giving them extra time to do assignments and letting plagiarism fly under the radar are ways they do this. For FSU, this report and these activities are 100% going to have some sort of repercussions on its reputation, most likely negative. Probably to the degree where the teachers and students get reprimanded in some way. Fired, loss of scholarship, suspension.
ReplyDeleteI think that what causes ‘academic Integrity’ is nothing but a dilemma that the students brought onto themselves. And I think that Boosters and other outside the program supplements doesn't help the fact that they treat NCAA D1 athletes like gods among men. I’m not saying that all students really portray this, but a percentage does. And It is because the Student-Athletes realize that they can get away with either skipping classes or getting others to do their homework. I think that Punishments that the coaches put on the players is the best course of action. If they get put on academic probation or any punishment that the college itself puts on the athlete would be malarky because the same Boosters and Outside the program supplements that put them into that whole monkey business will get them out of it. Its shown time and time again. I believe that it was either the kentucky basketball team or the North Carolina basketball teams that would recruit 5 star athletes from Africa and force them to study the language of their homes. If I was in her position I would force the students to either not take the class, or help them learn what they need to, not just help them cheat and say that I am a victim.
ReplyDeleteIssues of academic integrity don't get reported because the school wants their star players to be able to play. Professors are pressured to pass star players so the school team does well. Part of the problem is also that star players don't think they have to worry about classes because they get all the extra support to make sure they are eligible to play either way. To fix the problem, there need to be consequences for college athletes who slack on classwork. They have to be held to the same standard as any other student. More teachers need to speak up when athletes don't meet academic requirements. When stories like these get out it does damage the school's reputation because they are cheating to make their team better. It looks like they can't win fairly and makes people lose respect for the team and the school.
ReplyDeleteSometimes in big times college football schools the lines are blurred when it comes to upholding the academic integrity for student athletes. A lot of teachers and academic advisors are pressured to make sure these student athletes are eligible to play. At the end of the day college athletics generates a lot of funds for the school. I think that Mrs Suggs did the wrong thing but I can't say I would have done anything different. She was facing a lot of pressure from not only fans but her superiors. She tried to keep her classes fare. For example She initially denied James Wilder any special treatment but eventually gave into professor Bonns demands to let Wilder hand in parts of his final assignment late. So what i'm saying is that I can understand how a teacher at the University would feel pressured to give student athletes better grades, when they are being pressured by their superiors. After reading this article it seems that Mr Bonn should have been fired and Mrs Suggs should have kept her job. In my opinion this does not damage Florida State's reputation because their are so many scandals that are currently going on in college football that are worse than academic favoritism. Also it is my belief that Academic favoritism is going on at most football colleges. Although I don't think that this will affect the reputation of Florida State, this is not the first time that Florida state has faced academic integrity infractions. In 2006 FSU was caught violating the NCAA academic regulations.
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ReplyDelete- Ms. Suggs, the teacher in question, was a graduate student at the time of these events. If you were in her position, what would you have done?
ReplyDeleteHad I been in Ms. Suggs position, I would’ve definitely reported the problem. Understandably, it would be hard to do such a thing as job loss could be a result, but the consequences that ensue are much greater than one person’s job. In the NFL and other sports leagues, players are commonly suspended for committing acts of violence or anything illegal in general. Specifically, former FSU running back James Wilder Jr exhibits such behavior. During Ms. Suggs time at FSU, she encountered Wilder and the misconduct going on. The article Football Favoritism at F.S.U: The Price One Teacher Paid by Mike McIntire lays out and discusses the events that occur regarding this misconduct. Wilder had, “ been arrested three times in the previous year and was on track to get, at best, a grade of D in one course”(McIntire 2017). Wilder proceeded to email his professor saying, “ he needed a B ‘to keep (himself) in good academic place with the school’”(McIntire 2017). The teacher referred to Wilder as “a starting star running back”, then proceeded to give him special treatment, which most likely ended up in Wilder getting a B. Wilder had exhibited his lack of education and was already committing illegal acts but because he’s a star running back, the teacher essentially thinks that doesn’t matter when in reality it really does. Wilder now play for the Argonauts in the Canadian football league. Because he is now prone to committing more illegal acts due to his lack of education, he is both letting his team down and the league. By creating this culture of sports players not needing to be educated, FSU is producing football players that are much more likely to be suspended in the future because of their lack of education and like James Wilder Jr, let both their team’s and their league’s down. In addition, because FSU and this professor have done this in the past, the culture of a lack of education will continue and these athletes will be sent out into the world without the education they needed to get.
With all of the pressure for schools to win being put on the coaches and players, extreme measures are taken to ensure victory. Most Division one universities pull strings for their players to help them maintain eligibility academically for their sport, but someone finally blew the whistle when they had enough of it from Florida State. The academic rules that are in place in the NCAA are there for the players interests and benefits. Though I believe that in the publics eyes, FSU's reputation was damaged slightly, but people have to realize what other colleges know: everybody else does it. But, what precautions do those other colleges take to avoid getting caught that FSU failed to do? Based on this article, it seems to have been an unroyal member of the "team" of assistants. There should be tougher regulation by the NCAA Academic service that actively checks in with all schools, especially the big sports name schools like FSU, Michigan, and Ohio State. Taking actions against cheating the system will help keep the playing field fair, and it will help focus on what should be the main priority of college: getting a degree/education and not just playing football. In the end, it is the pressure from society that causes a school like FSU to unfairly have their players pass their academics in order to maintain eligibility for their sport.
ReplyDeleteSome reasons why academic issues may go unreported in bigger schools is probably because they want to keep everything under wraps and not have any bad publicity go towards the school. If there is any negative news towards the school, the school will find it harder to recruit and draw in funds to the school. The integrity of schools are now looked down upon from the incidents. Ms. Suggs paved the way in the incident at FSU, waving the red flag that covered the whole scandal. It was definitely hard for her to point out the situation due to the pressure the NCAA and the school has on athletes. Things that can be done for this to not happen again would to implement rules and regulations for incidents like this for the future. One of which may be to have a department head or the school's dean to look at the situation when it becomes red flagged. This would make the education process more credible, not for just student athletes, but for all students, if someone had plagiarized. Focusing on the education part of college is what most of all students are looking to do while there, not just perform.
ReplyDeleteIssues such as this one that occurred at FSU happen more often then not. Many high school sports stars go to college sole for the sport they were recruited for or offered a scholarship for. They do not necessarily go for the academics but rather increasing their chances of entering professional leagues such as the NFL or the NBA after college. Although in order to play a sport in college you need to maintain some type of academic standards, that often gets swept under the carpet for major sports school like FSU where students get off for plagiarizing and turning in assignments late if at all and this is not okay. Student athletes should be treated just like any other student at that school and should be held to the same standards and rules because they decided to go to that school as everyone else did. To limit these issues from occurring teachers and the school must be more strict with when deadlines are due and playing a sport should be a privilege not a must. What I mean by that is if a student is failing a class and they are an athlete, they should not be able to play that sport or take a leave of absence until they can get their grades up. Plagiarizing is a large issue affecting not only colleges but every school system, however it is more common in college student athletes due to lack of balance between sport and school. Plagiarizing is not acceptable and there should be punishments if it does occur, it should not be played off by being able to redo the assignment as it was done many times in this article at FSU. If I was Ms.Suggs I would have done the same thing, although it threatened her job and she took an immense risk, equality with athletic integrity with all students whether you play a sport or not should be enforced. The NCAA should enforce more strict rules and "check in's" on student athletes to ensure they are keeping up with school work and not receiving any special treatment. Student athletes should learn how to balance both school and their sport in order to be successful on and off the field.
ReplyDeleteThere are many reasons that issues of academic integrity go unreported at big sports schools. The biggest reason is money. If an athlete is not able to play then the school will not preform as well during their games. If the team doesn't do as well in their games then the interest in that sport goes down. If that happens then the revenue going to the school decreases. Although these issues will never go away completely, there are many steps that can be taken in order to deter athletes from violating academic integrity. The most effective step is to set up an organization that reprimands professional athletes for issues due to college integrity. This gives athletes a reason to care about college level play. If I was in Ms. Suggs position I would not report the violation. I would be too scared of the NCAA, FSU, and losing my job. Although this damages FSU's reputation, it doesnt do too much damage. Every other major sports school does this to some level and everybody knows it. FSU was just caught...
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