Since it will become part of the stadium, I thought this link might best go here.

http://www.thepostathens.com/article/2017/10/sook-center-...

If Academics wants to run Sook, they or the University should immediately give Athletics the $5,000,000 to $6,000,000 that Athletics raised through donations to build it.

What a load of crap.

All students still have advisors. However those advisories are only concerned with the major requirements of the student, and know nothing about the NCAA component. I'm willing to bet when you were advising that you had little understanding of NCAA eligibility rules, the legalities of tutoring and extra benefits, or the demands on time of individual sports.

I see nothing wrong with someone not from athletics running the tutoring and academic advising portion of this operation. Frankly, following the various scandals, including UNC, it would probably look really good on Ohio University to do this.

Buuuurrrrrrnnnnnnn! Or Bazinga! Whichever you prefer....

Look, I assume the athletic department of the most media covered university in the world (Ohio University), with a group of faculty obsessed with athletics to absurd levels, would take great care to do his the right way. So, I'm not too worried.... (maybe)....

Seems like there'd be a compromise that could be designed.

But who am I kidding.

"To prevent these negative outcomes, and thereby to ensure the excellence of Ohio University’s teaching mission for all of its students, the Ohio University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors formally requests of President Nellis and Interim Provost Descutner that
the supervision, financing, management, and control of the soon-to-be finished Sook Center cease to remain under the control of the athletic department in any way."

Translation: Even though the Athletics Department fought hard to raise millions in DONOR MONEY from those who wanted to invest in Ohio Athletics and student-athletes, as well as managed the design/building of this center, we don't want the Athletics Department to operate it or have anything to do with it in any way.

But the two (eligibility and education) are symbiotic. I don't really see them as being separate. If the focus is on keeping them eligible, tutoring can help them keep their grades at an acceptable level --> education.

As someone who has taken advantage of additional athletics department tutoring support, it is much appreciated. And I would almost deem it necessary given the amount of travel/practice time many of the student-athletes commit to.

There is often a stigma associated with student-athletes that they have it "easy" when it comes to classes. In many cases, they have it much harder -- especially the ones with more difficult course work.

With the advent of #MACtion weeknight games for football, this can make it much worse for football players. There are also other teams that travel during the week.

We can lament the perils of weekday games as fans, but students traveling to/from Michigan on a weekday is not easy when it comes to making up classes/tests.

It takes balance and compromise, from coaches, professors and the student-athletes themselves to make it work. And I think OU has a pretty good system in place that should only get better with the Sook Center.

I would agree but that really only means seven times a year - the six home games and the spring game.

I meant that athletics only needs it 7 times a year for game day hospitality (six home game and the spring game). Other than those 7 days, it's a glorified study hall which the academic side of the university should be controlling.

Wow, where to begin. First, I was an Assistant AD for Academic Services and Compliance at an NCAA DI institution. If anyone else has held a similar position, please let me/us know. I have overseen an academic center for student-athletes and a certified tutor program. The idea of having the Academic side of the University oversee or manage the Sook Center is just dumb. For starters, cross functional alignment is an integral component of running an effective and compliant academic services program which includes academic support staff, coaches, student-athletes and athletics leadership. Everyone must be on board with the program and how it's being run. That won't work when the people running the program don't report into the same department as the people participating in the program, especially at OU, where the Academic side appears to have a pretty major "beef" with college athletics in general. Yeah, that's going to go real well. If you don't see this as just a political move by these "academics" who have their panties in a bunch about an athletics only facility, then you're totally out to lunch.

Then there's the rules component. Dear God, the number of times I had to educate the Academic side about all the NCAA eligibility rules, etc. only to have to continually remind and educate them because the traditional "advisors" kept screwing things up which would render a student-athlete ineligible. I can't imagine people from that arm of the University world trying (or caring to) manage things properly. I could go on and on.

People need to get it through their thick skulls...student-athletes are special and have special needs that require special attention and care from a special academic support staff. Example: my university had a very strict class attendance policy and due to the proximity of the schools in conference, we had soccer and tennis teams traveling all over the Earth during the week for competition. I had professors who were prepared to fail the student-athlete for missing class due to participation in University sponsored NCAA DI athletics competition. The Athletics-based Academic Support Advisor is going to work across the University within the guidelines of the rules (which they know and understand - and are changing all the time btw - yet they're required to know and understand) to find a reasonable solution so the student-athlete doesn't fail out of school for missing classes due to playing a sport which that same school recruited him/her to play (and are required to play to get the financial aid they signed up for). Just one of many examples. Academic-based counselors aren't going to advocate for the student-athlete in these scenarios because they don't report into the athletics department and guess who's going to suffer...you're student-athletes and then your athletics reputation.

This is also a matter of institutional control and as an AD, I'll be damned if I'm going to be on the hook to ensure my athletics department complies with all rules and regulations when I've got a whole arm of my operation that's out of my control. That's a lot of exposure and frankly, I don't want to be an AD where I don't have that control. It just takes one rogue or ignorant academic counselor or tutor to destroy everything and that can happen whether it lives on the Academic side or the Athletics side but let's be serious - where is it going to get undivided attention and oversight?!? Based on experience, there's only one correct answer - Athletics.

Why aren't these same "academics" requesting that the Athletics business affairs be managed by the University business office? Or, the NCAA compliance affairs be managed by the University Legal arm? Or, the Athletics fundraising handled exclusively by the University Advancement team? NCAA secondary violations and major infractions can easily occur in each of those areas, too, so why not? Umm, because that would also be very dumb and ultimately, because none of those functions are building an athletics only facility.

Truly an informative post, from someone with actual knowledge in the area. Thank you.