Additional academic support for student-athletes in place as the new school year and athletic seasons begin

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Jim Manke, (808) 956-6099
UH Manoa Chancellor's Office
Lois Manin, (808) 956-7523
UH Manoa Athletics
Posted: Aug 14, 2006

New guidelines and procedures will be in place for student-athletes this fall as the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa seeks to improve academic support programs for students during the school year.

"Our goal is to raise the NCAA Graduation Success Rate and team Academic Progress Rates to above the 50th percentile among Division I institutions nationwide," said Manoa Chancellor Denise Konan.

"We are constantly looking for ways to improve the academic support services for our student-athletes," Manoa Athletics Director Herman Frazier said. "We need to ensure they receive the proper tools to guide them towards a degree from the University of Hawaii. These elements serve as another step towards accomplishing success in the classroom."

Elements of the new plan include:

1. Establishing a process to review the applications for admission of athletes who may not meet all of the normal admission criteria to make sure all of students who enroll are capable of college work, and to make sure that appropriate academic support is available.

2. Establishing a policy under which a student athlete will lose a scholarship if the student is not in good academic standing for two semesters in a row.

3. Allowing student athletes to travel to away games only if they in good academic standing.

4. Scheduling travel for road trips to minimize lost class time.

5. Scheduling practices and other team activities to avoid prime class times (8:30 a.m. -1:30 p.m.), and making class attendance mandatory, with no missed classes allowed for home practices.

A process for requesting exceptions has been developed to meet out-of-the-ordinary circumstances.

Chancellor Konan noted, "As we worked on these guidelines there was minimal talk about ʻupper campus‘ and ʻlower campus.‘ We‘re very committed to the academic success of all of our students no matter what kinds of activities they engage in outside the classroom."

The Chancellor added, "We think we have a workable plan to help our student athletes, and our academic support staff will be monitoring the impact of these new procedures through the coming school year to make adjustments if necessary."

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Academic Plan for Athletics

Our goal: to raise our NCAA Graduation Success Rate and our team Academic Progress Rates until they are above the 50th percentile among Division I Institutions nationwide.

1. Applications from prospective student-athletes who do not meet the expected criteria but who might still qualify for admission will be discussed by a committee consisting of the Admissions Director, the Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Undergraduate Education, the Learning Specialist Academic Advisor from Student Athlete Academic Services, and two faculty to be named by the Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs (VCAA) in accordance with Article 6, section 3 of the Faculty Senate By-Laws. The Director of Student Affairs for Athletics will serve as a non-voting member to assist the committee. This committee will make a recommendation on admission based on the student‘s academic record and all other information pertinent to the student‘s likelihood of success and on the availability of appropriate academic support. The final decision on admission will be made by the Admissions Office. The committee will report to the VCAA and the Faculty Senate Committee on Athletics each year on the academic progress of the applicants that it considered.

2. The Athletics Department will incorporate into its scholarship policies and place into
the Student-Athlete Handbook a statement that if a student-athlete becomes academically ineligible for two semesters in a row, his or her scholarship will not be renewed. The Department will allow such a student to petition for reinstatement of his or her scholarship upon presentation of a plan for regaining academic eligibility which must be approved by the coach, the Athletics Director, and the Chair of Student Athlete Academic Services (SAAS). The student also maintains his or her right to appeal the non-renewal of scholarship to the Director of Financial Aid Services.

3. Student-athletes that travel to compete must be fulfilling their academic responsibilities and making satisfactory academic progress during the current semester, as determined by SAAS.

4. When scheduling regular season road trips, missed class time will be minimized. When competing in the Pacific Time Zone, the team should leave no earlier than 48 hours in advance of the competition. When competing in the Mountain Time Zone, the team should leave no earlier than 60 hours in advance of the competition. When competing in the Central Time Zone, the team should leave no earlier than 72 hours in advance of the competition. When competing in the Eastern Time Zone, the team should leave no earlier
than 84 hours in advance of the competition. In extenuating circumstances when travel entails additional class days missed, exceptions may be made to this policy with the approval of the Athletics Director and the Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Undergraduate Education.

5. In general, practices and other team activities will not be scheduled during prime class times (8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.). Class attendance is mandatory, and classes cannot be missed for home practices. Exceptions to the scheduling policy may be granted with the approval of the Athletics Director and the Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Undergraduate Education.