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Friday, March 30, 2007
An American grad takes issue with our comments on AU's academics in a recent post about the school's hiring of a new athletics director. Here is his message and our reply:Jordan Cook wrote:
Jordan --
Since you asked us to address some of your comments, here goes . . .
Obviously these things are not easy to quantify, but there are some indicators that are commonly used to assess academic excellence and American does not fare well when compared to the other Patriot League schools.
One such indicator is admissions selectivity. Admissions type love this one, though, frankly, to folks with public university backgrounds like me, it can reek of pretension. Nonetheless, here are the numbers, along with the percentage of incoming students who rank in the top 10 percent of their graduating class:
Another quantitative comparison is average SAT scores of incoming freshmen. Again, American ranks below the rest of the league. Here are the numbers:
As for your arguments that AU's low graduation rates are reflective of the old regime in basketball, that ignores the fact that AU's lower graduation rate spans the entire school and runs across the whole athletic department. AU's overall graduation rate of 71 percent is 14 percent below the next lowest school in the league (Lehigh - 85 percent) and its student athlete graduation rate is also the lowest in the league. AU is the only school that graduates less than 80 percent of its student athletes (56 percent).
The difference in graduation rates between all students and student athletes at every other school in the league is less than 10 percent. Two schools -- Bucknell and Lehigh -- actually have higher grad rates for student athletes than the student body as a whole and the difference between all students and student athletes at Colgate and Lafayette is 2 percent. Holy Cross has a 9 percent difference; American's difference is 15 percent. Here are those numbers:
Breaking it down by sport, American has seven different sports that reported grad rates below 90 percent in the latest study. No other school had more than three sports below 90 percent. Adding significance to the difference is the fact that AU offers fewer sports than any of the other league members.
Now nobody is arguing American is not a fine school, or that it does not belong in the league. And we have heard reports the school is working to improve the academic rankings of its athletes. Hopefully, as you suggest, future graduation success rates will reflect that.
We have no bias against American. Without a doubt, from a competition standpoint, AU has been a fine addition to the league. Jeff Jones is great to work with from a media standpoint -- frank, quotable, cooperative-- and word around the league is that his staff is both well-respected and well-liked by other staffs in the conference.
Our point was simply that if your hire is supposed to reflect your "commitment to the twin values of academic and athletics achievement," you don't bring in a guy from a school with a spotty academic record. The way to send that message is to hire someone who comes from a place that at least can boast an average graduation rate.
As an AU alumnus (BA, International Relations '95), I greatly resent your comments on your latest entry. I'm sure you have more "insider information" than I do about the PL offices, but are the "league-wide concerns" over AU's academic shortcomings coming from within the PL administration or just from fans of the old-guard schools? The idea that American is not academically equal to any of the Patriot League schools is laughable. With the possible exception of Lehigh, American is probably the most nationally respected university in the league. This is not to take anything away from the other excellent schools in the Patriot League, but your posting gave the clear impression that AU lags far behind Colgate, Bucknell, Lafayette, or Holy Cross in terms of its academic reputation I think you would have a very hard time making an effective case for that argument.
The statistics you point to are for the 1996-1999 cohorts, when AU was at a true low point in terms of its basketball administration. Chris Knoche really let things go at the end of his tenure as coach, and then Art Perry was a disastrous hire, trying to find quick solutions in very questionable characters who had basketball talent. This was the period of our swan song in the CAA, and the university made an institutional decision to move the Patriot League in order to be sure that our athletics department stayed representative of the high academic level the university as a whole is known for. So while 18% is truly an atrocious number, it's not really relevant for discussion when considering AU's history as a member of the Patriot League. And I guarantee you that the rate is MUCH higher now, as the type of athletes we have recruited has changed after entering the Patriot League.
Similarly, your pot shot at the new AD is disappointing. Again, your statistics are NOT APPLICABLE to the period when Gill was at Oklahoma. You'd need to see the CHANGE is graduation rates during his tenure to know what his impact was. How do we know that graduation rates didn't go up from 41% to 60%? Of course, they could have gone down, too, but my point is that we don't have the information. Your quickness to make an assumption makes me wonder if you have some prejudice against American.
I'm sorry to come off as defensive, but I have really enjoyed following your blog, and I think your comments really matter in forming opinions. You should be commended for that, for the hard work you put in. But there was no way to read your last post and not feel insulted as an American University alumnus.
I'd love to see you address some of my comments on your blog. Perhaps you can show me that I am wrong in some way. But it's disappointing to see my school seemingly looked on with disdain, when I don't see a real rationale for that.
Jordan --
Since you asked us to address some of your comments, here goes . . .
Obviously these things are not easy to quantify, but there are some indicators that are commonly used to assess academic excellence and American does not fare well when compared to the other Patriot League schools.
One such indicator is admissions selectivity. Admissions type love this one, though, frankly, to folks with public university backgrounds like me, it can reek of pretension. Nonetheless, here are the numbers, along with the percentage of incoming students who rank in the top 10 percent of their graduating class:
| SCHOOL | Pct. adm. | Pct. Top 10 |
|---|---|---|
| American | 53 | 48 |
| Army | NA | 72 |
| Bucknell | 33 | 71 |
| Colgate | 28 | 70 |
| Holy Cross | 34 | 64 |
| Lafayette | 37 | 62 |
| Lehigh | 39 | 62 |
| Navy | NA | 54 |
| Source: The College Board | ||
Another quantitative comparison is average SAT scores of incoming freshmen. Again, American ranks below the rest of the league. Here are the numbers:
| SCHOOL | Math | Crit. Rdg. |
|---|---|---|
| American | 603 | 620 |
| Army | 641 | 627 |
| Bucknell | 666 | 636 |
| Colgate | 675 | 666 |
| Holy Cross | 629 | 631 |
| Lafayette | 665 | 620 |
| Lehigh | 671 | 631 |
| Navy | 670 | 648 |
| Source: Princeton Review | ||
As for your arguments that AU's low graduation rates are reflective of the old regime in basketball, that ignores the fact that AU's lower graduation rate spans the entire school and runs across the whole athletic department. AU's overall graduation rate of 71 percent is 14 percent below the next lowest school in the league (Lehigh - 85 percent) and its student athlete graduation rate is also the lowest in the league. AU is the only school that graduates less than 80 percent of its student athletes (56 percent).
The difference in graduation rates between all students and student athletes at every other school in the league is less than 10 percent. Two schools -- Bucknell and Lehigh -- actually have higher grad rates for student athletes than the student body as a whole and the difference between all students and student athletes at Colgate and Lafayette is 2 percent. Holy Cross has a 9 percent difference; American's difference is 15 percent. Here are those numbers:
| SCHOOL | All | SA |
|---|---|---|
| American | 71 | 56 |
| Army | NA | NA |
| Bucknell | 88 | 90 |
| Colgate | 91 | 89 |
| Holy Cross | 91 | 82 |
| Lafayette | 90 | 88 |
| Lehigh | 85 | 86 |
| Navy | NA | NA |
| Source: 2006 NCAA Division I GSR Data | ||
Breaking it down by sport, American has seven different sports that reported grad rates below 90 percent in the latest study. No other school had more than three sports below 90 percent. Adding significance to the difference is the fact that AU offers fewer sports than any of the other league members.
Now nobody is arguing American is not a fine school, or that it does not belong in the league. And we have heard reports the school is working to improve the academic rankings of its athletes. Hopefully, as you suggest, future graduation success rates will reflect that.
We have no bias against American. Without a doubt, from a competition standpoint, AU has been a fine addition to the league. Jeff Jones is great to work with from a media standpoint -- frank, quotable, cooperative-- and word around the league is that his staff is both well-respected and well-liked by other staffs in the conference.
Our point was simply that if your hire is supposed to reflect your "commitment to the twin values of academic and athletics achievement," you don't bring in a guy from a school with a spotty academic record. The way to send that message is to hire someone who comes from a place that at least can boast an average graduation rate.
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