joshuakhalfin – Shaping the Future of New York

Circumventing NCAA Rules is Reaching New Levels of Conniving

As we have discussed in class one of the more controversial topics surrounding higher education is the NCAA and how the athletes on teams are dealing, or in some cases, breaking the NCAA rules for their own personal gain. For those unfamiliar, or who simply need a refresher, the NCAA has “strict” rules preventing their athletes from receiving any form of payment, both monetarily and materially. Athletes who have been caught breaking said rules received both massive fines and suspensions, part of the issue regarding athletes striving for more money incentives is the mindset that seems to be present that being paid to go to these expensive schools to learn isn’t a perk. This was evident in when Cardale Jones of OSU tweeted out that he is “here to play football not play school” and that classes are worthless. Personally, I think this kind of mindset should be tempered and schools should find ways to facilitate a learning culture throughout the university, including athletes who sometimes do not do any real work in their specific classes.

Recent news broke in the case of Laremy Tusil who was able to receive money perks as well as a few unconfirmed perks such as a car and paying for his apartment. He was shunned for this and it resulted in him a first round projected player in the NFL draft to be drafted by Miami in the 2^nd round losing out on millions of dollars. However, a new way to make money off of NCAA football has become evident and it can be well assumed that it will become more prevalent in the near future.

Introducing Breana Dodd. Dodd is a University of Tennessee student, yet her name is well known around the college football circle as “Hottest college football girlfriend of the season” by Barstool. Dodd is currently dating Josh Smith a wide receiver on the University’s team who of course cannot receive any payment. That doesn’t stop businesses from using Dodd who is tangently connected to the NCAA in order to advertise their brand. Jolly Rancher is using Dodd’s fame and recognition as a football girlfriend to help sell their product, and advertise to her 23,000 instagram followers. Important and absolutely imperative to note that Jolly Rancher said they didn’t choose Breana Dodd because she is dating a football player but rather she was just one of around 30 students chosen to help advertise. Personally, I find this hard to believe but to play Devil’s advocate, lets say they didn’t solely choose Breana due to her relationship but her massive following, wouldn’t you argue that her massive following was a sub-product of dating the football player? It is truly odd to me that a Football player cannot receive any payment but someone who has reached a level of prominence through a relationship facilitated by football can. However, I truly do commend Dodd for being able to make money off of her brand, its truly impressive and I find nothing wrong with her doing it personally.

LINK: http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2016/05/breana_dodd_can_get_paid_to_endorse_candy_her_boyfriend_college_football.html

Wheaton College is Becoming a New Focal Point of the Academic Diversity Debate

As members of CUNY we know that one of the nice benefits of attending colleges are in fact the interactions that we make with the other students that are attending the school. The melting pot of information, discussion and an overall pursuit of knowledge helps individual students grow themselves but also integrate new ideas that arise into their own thoughts to develop more cohesive ideas. This feature of college isn’t indigenous to CUNY although it is a part of it’s identity as seen in the early years of CITY College[1]. The issue arises when numerous people are against the concepts of affirmative action[2], which serves to not only let the underprivileged of poor socioeconomic students achieve a higher education but to also allow the schools to achieve diversity among their students, and for the most part the public is backing the idea of making colleges more diverse[3]. The importance of diversity in colleges also allows students to begin to interact with people of different backgrounds as it is highly unlikely that in their life they will never interact with other people.

As prevalent as the benefits of making schools more diverse are there are some schools who are still not in favor of it and it is putting them behind both economically and socially. Wheaton College has recently sparked controversy when they have taken steps to fire Professor Larycia Hawkins. The issue with her firing is that is is not merit based but more so social based. Professor Hawkins in the midst of the rampant racism, decided to show her support for Muslims when she decided to wear a hijab by proclaiming that both Christianity and Islam are religions of the same G-d and the Book “Larycia Hawkins donned a hijab last December to show solidarity with Muslims during a rising tide of anti-Islamic sentiment following the terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif. She posted on Facebook a photograph of herself in a hijab with the message, “I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book.”[4]. Wheaton College is a Christian flagship school who took offense to this statement and subsequently took steps to fire Professor Hawkins. While I respect the school’s vigor and objectivism to stick with their mission statement, I am completely appalled that the school would fire a professor due to her personal opinion that really doesn’t hurt anyone.

This controversy is only negative for Wheaton College, the resistance of seeing other views isn’t only seen in this regard but also in their sciences where the “cutting edge” sciences in the school should still expect students to understand that humans descended from Adam and Eve. This alone prevented the school from receiving money from a man who was at first willing to invest. “As the college president, the Rev. Philip Ryken, showed off the west suburban Chicago school’s cutting-edge science labs to Vanderveen, the former Wheaton student recalled Ryken saying that students were expected to accept the belief that mankind descended from Adam and Eve — one of the college’s core tenets found in its statement of faith. As a result of what he perceived to be the school’s conservative bent, Vanderveen never gave the college another dime.”[5]

Personally, I think this school which is feeling the wrath of remaining in the past and unaccepting of other groups of people within their institution is becoming a great point in why schools should begin to recreating themselves to the changing world and become more accepting of others.

[1] Dorman, Joseph. Arguing the World: The New York Intellectuals in Their Own Words. New York: Free, 2000. Print.

[2] Schmidt, Peter. “What the Supreme Court Will Be Asking as It Revisits Affirmative Action.” Chronicle of Higher Education (n.d.): n. pag. Web.

[3] Drake, Bruce. “Public Strongly Backs Affirmative Action Programs on Campus.” Pew Research Center RSS. N.p., 22 Apr. 2014. Web. 04 May 2016.

[4] Pashman, Manya. “Wheaton College Could Face Long-term Fallout over Professor Controversy.” Http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-wheaton-college-professor-fallout-met-20160222-story.html. N.p., n.d. Web.

[5] ibid

Week 2 Post. Chapter 7.

One of the major points that were brought up in this chapter in regard to how higher education is now structured is the difference between the stereotypical 4 year college experience and reality. Selingo mentions how the college experience has been viewed as when 18 year old kids “pack up their family sedans… head off to college” (81), he even referred to this mindset as a “great Hollywood narrative”. This however proves to not be the case in real life as only 2 in 10 undergraduates actually go to a 4 year residential college and even less actually finish on time showing one major difference between higher education now and how it is perceived through Hollywood due to the experiences of past generations. Selingo references how many colleges and many paths of students is now beginning to follow that of colleges such as Valencia college which not only offers its students a 4 year degree but also contains a University of Central Florida outpost in its college giving students an opportunity to also receive a degree with majors from the University without actually having to leave Valencia College.

2) Another point that was mentioned within this chapter is the idea of credits. Credits were originally developed so the federal government can predict how long a faculty member was present within the school which includes teaching time as well as work outside the class. Selingo references in this chapter that there is a flaw with the credit system in modern higher education because campuses no longer hold only 18-20 year old students with a lot of free time on their hands, it is now the opposite with students of many different ages and of course many different responsibilities. Colleges are also more expensive than they were 2 or 3 decades ago yet they still teach the same way in regard to credits and it is something that didn’t evolve with the changing dynamic of college students.

3) The Competency Model (84) is a model of learning that allows students and colleges to receive their credits not on how long they spent in a chair but instead on how much they know. Through a series of tests which serve to see if a person understands the concept it opens up 2 major possibilities that are simply unavailable in the credit system mentioned above. First of all, this series of tests allows a person to move on in their studies once they know the topic, they no longer have to spend 3 months studying a topic that they may already know and they would not have to arrange time to go to the unneeded classes which holds value to the ever changing type of students present in colleges such as a single mother who would like a degree for a new job but simply doesn’t have the time to go to the classes. On the other end of the spectrum the competency model allows members of the college to take as much time as they would need to study for the test. They would not be rushed with the rigor of a 14-15 week semester which may also be crowded with a full time job. The model is seen successful in the case of Sheryl Schuh who paid 3000 dollars for a 6 month period where she can complete as many classes as she could’ve (85).

4) Selingo mentions the importance of prior credits as well (87) and their overall importance to a college student. This is when a college offers credits for things learned outside of the classroom which their skills are tested on. It is mentioned that students who can receive credit for work or skills learned outside of the classroom are twice as likely to graduate than those who did not receive said credits (88).

5) Another big topic that Selingo mentions in chapter 7 is the case of Jose Brown who is a man about to retire but does want to get a new degree to get a job for after his retirement. In turns out that he needs 6 more credits to graduate however the next semester begins in 3 months. Brown sees an ad for “Straighter Line” a diploma mill that doesn’t hand out degrees for cheap (78). Brown decides to take the classes anyway, passes and receives the necessary credits that can get transferred to his college which allow him to graduate.