[Academics in athletics at UCLA] Making the grade

Only 16 teams were left in the NCAA Tournament. The UCLA
men’s basketball team was in Oakland, preparing for what was
then its most important game of the year. The players had practiced
and worked all year long with the goal of playing a game like that
one. But during that same week, the UCLA players had another
pressing concern; they had something else to worry about. Something
other than a game plan, defensive strategies or an increased media
presence asking for their time. The week of the Sweet 16 and Elite
Eight rounds was finals week at UCLA. Students at UCLA complain
enough about how tough finals are. But most students don’t
have to prepare for both finals and an NCAA Tournament game over
300 miles away from campus that will be watched by millions. At
UCLA, where most of the sports teams frequently advance to the
postseason and travel as part of their schedule, balancing school
and sports can be challenging. “It was difficult,”
men’s basketball player Luc Richard Mbah a Moute said.
“You have to focus on the other team, but at the same time
you have to be focusing on doing your work and dealing with all the
media obligations, practices and putting enough work into your
schoolwork.” At a prominent research university with an
athletic program that has won 98 NCAA titles ““ the most in
the country ““ there are many people whose sole job is to keep
student-athletes on top of their studies so they can compete on the
field.

Academic Services UCLA’s student-athletes
get help balancing academics and sports. The UCLA Athletic
Department has an Academic Services unit within the JD Morgan
Center, the building which houses the Athletic Department’s
offices. Academic Services has counselors, tutors and mentors
available for student-athletes. On top of that, they have people
assigned to follow up on the progress of student-athletes; they
help create an atmosphere for student-athletes to study while on
the road; and they also help student-athletes who need to miss
class for a game communicate with professors and help resolve any
issues that may arise between professors and student-athletes.
“The school does a good job in support systems for athletes
as far as tutoring. We need it,” said Drew Olson, a UCLA
quarterback from 2002 to 2005. “Mentally, I don’t know
if we’re in it all the time in school. Rightfully so;
you’ve got so many things going on in your mind. It’s
really two full-time jobs that we’re taking on, and the whole
social aspect of college.” Mike Casillas, who is currently
serving as both the director of Academic Services and the director
of Student-Athlete Counseling for the Athletic Department, oversees
the various kinds of academic support. He reports to both the
Athletic Department and the UCLA College. The counselors in the
Athletic Department are hired to the College and are therefore not
under the direct control of the Athletic Department ““ a
system that is different from those at other NCAA schools, where
athletic departments often hire and oversee their own counselors.
“It provides for a system of checks and balances,”
Casillas said. “Our counselors, since they’re employed
by the College, provide the same kinds of resources that every
student gets.” The counseling is generally available to
student-athletes on a drop-in basis and is not mandatory. However,
teams generally meet with a counselor once a quarter to plan out
their schedules for the following quarter. The Athletic Department
makes its mentor program mandatory for freshmen. Mentors are
generally graduate students who give the freshmen advice on how to
study for exams, avoid procrastination, and transition to the
university. Mentors report to the Academic Services staff every
week. Counseling does become mandatory for student-athletes who get
in trouble academically. And if problems continue, they can
potentially end up on academic probation or be subject to
dismissal, like any other student. In rare, extreme cases, Casillas
said he has had to tell student-athletes they were dismissed from
the university. “That’s the worst part of my
job,” Casillas said.

Travel What the men’s basketball team had
to go through academically during its tournament run isn’t
that uncommon at UCLA. Most UCLA teams have to travel significantly
and many of them are regulars in the NCAA Championships, making
their seasons even longer. The Athletic Department has laptop
computers available for student-athletes to borrow while they are
on the road, and for trips three days or longer, the department
requires a study hall for athletes, reserving a room in the team
hotel specifically for that purpose. On top of missing class
because of road games, UCLA teams often have to miss midterms and
even finals. “Midterms and finals are something you have to
do as student-athletes,” Mbah a Moute said. “You just
have to get used to it.” And there was more that the
basketball players had to do before leaving for the NCAA Tournament
““ they had to alert their professors that they would be
missing class and obtain information on what to do if they had to
miss the final exam ““ all in the one day after Selection
Sunday and before the team left for San Diego on Tuesday of that
same week. Student-athletes are given letters to give to their
professors at the beginning of the quarter, according to Casillas.
“We write letters on behalf of student-athletes (to)
professors, basically confirming they’re student-athletes and
are participating,” Casillas said. “Our approach is
that student-athletes are going to pick up letters and give them to
professors in (the) first couple weeks and have dialogue on when
they might miss class. If there’s issues, we want to deal
with them early on.”

Professors Dealing with issues early on
isn’t always possible, however, especially when dealing with
the postseason. In most NCAA sports, the majority of teams do not
have advance knowledge about their postseason berth, where they are
going or on what days they will be playing, until the day the
tournament draw is released, typically the day after the regular
season ends. The tournaments usually start within one week of when
the tournament draw is released, leaving student-athletes little
time to work out unexpected details with classes before they leave.
“That Monday, the players had to go to the professors,”
Casillas said. “Most (professors) understand, but some
don’t quite understand why they’re coming so late in
the quarter. We have to educate them on why we’re coming so
late.” Every athlete interviewed for this story said
professors were understanding most of the time. “I expect
student-athletes, like all other students, to complete course work,
submit papers and take exams,” UCLA political science
Professor Victor Wolfenstein said. “I do not vary the
standards for them. I am, however, always cooperative with requests
from the Athletic Department to accommodate the scheduling demands
that are part of the athlete’s life.” Wolfenstein added
that he does not take attendance, so “missing class is not an
issue,” and expects all of his students, athletes included,
to turn papers in on time, no matter what type of event they
attend. For student-athletes that are away, he and other
professors, have been known to accept papers via e-mail.
Wolfenstein and other professors have also allowed student-athletes
to take final exams proctored away from campus ““ but
typically ask that the exams be administered at the same time they
would be taken at UCLA.

Problems Problems do occasionally arise though.
Softball player Emily Zaplatosch has had to drop classes because of
professors’ concerns over missing exams. “We stay in
touch with the professors,” Zaplatosch said. “Some of
them are willing for us to make it up when we get back or before we
leave. But I’ve had to drop classes because I would have to
miss an exam, and they wouldn’t let me make it up.” The
occasional need for student-athletes to drop a class is what makes
communication with professors early in the quarter so important,
according to Casillas, as it allows them to enroll in a different
class before the study-list deadline. In most cases, the
student-athlete is able to drop the class in question and enroll in
a new one, but in extreme cases where a class has to be taken in a
specific quarter and conflicts with athletic scheduling, coaches
are asked to accommodate the student-athlete’s needs, which
they generally do, according to Casillas and multiple athletes.

The quarter system Because UCLA uses the
quarter system, as opposed to the traditional semester system, UCLA
student-athletes have to deal with an extra set of final exams that
their opponents often don’t have to worry about. The UCLA
basketball team had to take finals during the NCAA Tournament in
March when most other teams did not have to because finals usually
fall in May. UCLA teams that play in the fall, most notably
football and women’s volleyball, do benefit from starting
their season before the school year starts. In 2005, the football
team played three of its 12 games before the first day of class on
Sept. 29, by which time the women’s volleyball team had
already played 11 of its 31 matches. Meanwhile, the
student-athletes at most universities were already taking classes.
UCLA teams that play during the spring have to prepare for final
exams while most of their opponents who are on the semester system
are on summer vacation. The NCAA Championships for track and field
are frequently held either during finals week or the week before
finals week at UCLA. The UCLA softball team had an extended, late
stay in Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series a
year ago, and as the top-ranked team in the country this year, is
expected to return to the series this year. Last year, softball
started a new postseason format, in which the Women’s College
World Series began a week later than usual and the final game was
replaced with a best-of-three series. This meant that instead of
ending on Memorial Day, the season extended into June. “The
professors here are great and they really work with us and allow us
to turn papers in early and do whatever we need to do,”
softball player Alissa Eno said. “It’s tough, but
it’s the greatest attribute of our team that we can really
get things done and make sure we’re settled before we go
anywhere.” A year ago, the UCLA softball team left for
Oklahoma City on the Tuesday of ninth week and returned on the
Thursday of 10th week ““ a total of nine consecutive days away
from campus toward the end of the quarter.

With reports from Bryan Chu, Bruin Sports senior
staff.

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