Putting the student back in student athlete

When I walked into my Online Journalism class on the first day of this semester, I felt like I was entering Lilliputia, and I was one of the midgets. I stand about 6-feet tall and normally don't feel dwarved in most social settings. But this class was full of huge guys who are on the Cowboy football and basketball teams.

The other student-athlete in the class, a UW golf team member, is average size.

For the most part, the athletes have shown up for class regularly and are performing satisfactorily in their academic work. That amazes me, considering the time they must spend outside of the classroom on training, practice and travel.

I played two years of high school football until I realized there wasn't much of a future for a 130-pound quarterback. But I remember coming home after a full day of school followed by two tough hours of practice. After wolfing down as much food as my mother could cook, I would face another 1-3 hours of homework most evenings. Then, exhausted, I'd try to grab at least eight hours of snooze time.

But I can't imagine trying to do that at the college level, juggling a full-time course load with a grueling schedule of weightlifting, cardio workouts, full-contact practices and long road trips.

Apparently, a lot of athletes can't handle that strict regime either. Graduation rates for major men's sports are a big concern for the NCAA, and many universities face penalties and sanctions for not meeting graduation benchmarks.

Those penalties don't concern me much. I am more concerned in getting individual student-athletes their diplomas in their five years of scholarship time. Athletes with full-ride scholarships get a heck of a deal - free tuition and fees, room and board, and books. Even at an inexpensive state school such as UW, that can be worth over $100,000.

In exchange, student-athletes provide entertainment for thousands of alumni and fans, and generate millions of dollars in ticket sales and donations. Some sustain injuries that will bother them the rest of their lives.

But if they don't graduate, I think they are being cheated by the system.

My solution: allow athletes to take a part-time courseload during their seasons. For football players, that would mean they would only have to take nine credit hours (three classes) in fall. It would be more problematic for basketball, but I propose starting their season later in fall semester and running it longer into March in spring semester. Under my system, basketball players would only have to take nine hours in spring then.

To keep them on track toward graduating in five years, I propose that student-athletes get three hours of internship credit during fall for football or during spring for basketball.

Student-athletes in other sports would also be eligible for part-time courseloads and internship credit. The hard work they put in for practice and intercollegiate competitions should be worth internship credit. Every athlete would be allowed to take up to 12 internship hours over their college careers.

A lot of professors would say that student-athletes are only part-time students anyhow. But I think reforming academic standards would result in better grades, more learning and higher graduation rates.

Hardball: Chris Matthews Live

One of the great things about working at the University of Wyoming is the opportunity to meet people from all over the world, from all walks of life. One benefit of being in Wyoming is that the state attracts a lot of famous people, too.

Over the years, I've had former Interior Secretary James Watt speak to a class, talked about horses with former 20/20 anchor Hugh Downs, and listened to former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson's stories and yarns at several social functions.

The latest public figure to visit campus was Chris Matthews. The host of MSNBC's Hardball was on campus today at the invitation of Al and Pete Simpson to discuss the Obama presidency. But first, Matthews took the time to have lunch with students and faculty from the Communication and Journalism Department.

Most of what I know about Matthews comes from Saturday Night Live skits poking fun at him and from recent quips from the right wing about his "man crush" on Obama. I've seen his show a few times but don't watch it regularly.

So it was interesting to hear him talk about his career as a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner who has written five books and got into journalism because he was fascinated by politics.

Although he had just returned from Egypt and was kind of run down from the quick trip to Wyoming and our 7,200-foot altitude, Matthews was very accessible to the students who wanted to know, basically, what it's like to be him.

His biggest news story? Covering the fall of the Berlin Wall for the Examiner easily topped the list for him.

His gaffe while dancing on the Ellen Show? He praised Ellen DeGeneres for having the savvy and guts to turn the controversy over her lesbianism into one of the most popular TV shows on the air.

But my favorite anecdote had to do with his role in the Culture of Celebrity. Matthews said he was shopping for sunglasses in Bloomingdale's recently and, within 20 minutes, somebody had put video of his shopping trip online.

Thanks to the Simpson family for inviting Matthews here, and thanks to Chris Matthews for taking the time to talk with our students.

Scholarships: Demand up, but so is supply

As we enter Week 12 of the semester at the University of Wyoming, students and faculty alike realize that the time to learn is winding down. Some students are so far behind that they probably can't catch up. Others are improving their scholastic work every week as they absorb and process new information and skills. Those are the ones who will see their efforts rewarded.

Last week, the Student Interaction Committee met to award scholarships to deserving Communication and Journalism students. Demand was up this year, but so was supply - a welcome economic situation during the current recession. More than 40 students applied for scholarships for the next academic year and for this summer. The increase probably is due to two factors: 1.) their parents can't afford to fund students as much as in the past due to the lousy economy, and 2.) better efforts by the department to publicize the scholarships.

The committee - Rebecca Roberts, Eileen Gilchrist and me - sorted the scholarship applications into several stacks based upon grade-point average, major and residency. Some scholarships require a GPA above a certain level. Others were aimed solely at journalism majors or students in advertising and public relations. One was geared for students from certain Wyoming counties.

Another factor we considered was extra-curricular activities. For instance, students who worked on the Branding Iron and other student publications, or those who had internships with newspapers, businesses or public relations agencies sometimes had an edge over students without those experiences for certain scholarships.

In the end, we awarded as many scholarships as possible to deserving students. Some scholarship funds had as much as $3,000 in them. We usually chose to split that sum into two or three awards to spread the money out among as many students as possible.

The big addition this year was the availability of summer scholarships that would pay for COJO classes taken during the summer sessions. The $10,000 available for summer scholarships made it possible for the committee to award some money to every student who applied for those.

On April 19, we will hold the annual Student Recognition Reception to publicly acknowledge the efforts of students receiving COJO scholarships.

Spring Break: Beats working

When I was a college student, I never went to Cancun or South Padre Island or Fort Lauderdale or any place fun for spring break. When spring break finally rolled around, I went home to work at a ski area or in my dad's liquor store to make enough money to get me through the rest of the semester.

Only since I started working at the University of Wyoming have I been able to enjoy spring breaks the way they were meant to be enjoyed - to the max.

This year, my son and I headed for Bozeman, Mont., for some fun. We skied Bridger Bowl, Big Sky and Moonlight Basin. My son broke his snowboard binding so I loaned him mine, which meant I didn't snowboard at all. But I telemark skied for the first time this year, and also enjoyed riding my alpine boards on some extreme terrain.

We hit a lot of new runs. Bridger Bowl this winter opened Schlasman's Lift, which accesses 1,700 vertical feet of steep bumps. At Big Sky, we rode the tram to the top of Lone Mountain and descended the Liberty Bowl in clouds and blowing snow. Poor visibility made the run treacherous and challenging. The next day under blue skies, we rode the Headwall Lift at Moonlight Basin and skied their expert terrain.

After a winter at our local Snowy Range Ski Area, the opportunity to shred some big mountains (and 10 inches of powder at Big Sky) was a wonderful change.

Needless to say, it was tough coming back to work today.

Tim Masters Case: A question of questions

Whenever I hear students complain about college, I will say they haven't suffered anywhere near the injustice that Tim Masters has in his life. Masters spent 10 years in a Colorado prison before being freed last year when new evidence surfaced in the 1987 murder case of Peggy Hettrick in Fort Collins.

My investigative reporting class last week attended a public forum with Masters and his defense attorneys at the University of Wyoming. We had just covered a chapter in our textbook about investigating police and court misconduct, and the Masters case was a textbook example.

According to his attorney, Masters was convicted mainly by a psychological profile based on violent drawings made when he was 15 years old. The drawings mostly were of Friday the 13th type slashers and monsters. Now, Masters has filed a lawsuit against Fort Collins.

For stories about Masters and how the legal system was twisted and perverted to unjustly imprison him, see a series from the Rocky Mountain News.

I was interested to hear Masters talk about his experiences and his thoughts about how to reform the legal system. Unfortunately, most of the program was dominated by his main defense attorney. However, Masters did answer a few questions that were supposedly submitted by UW law students.

The questions included: What was your worst experience in prison? His answer: Everything. Another question: What was your best experience in prison? Answer: Nothing.

These were some of the lamest questions I've ever heard. If that's the best UW law students can come up with, I wouldn't hire any of them if they ever pass the bar.

The next investigative reporting class, I asked students to think of two good questions that an investigative reporter might ask Masters in an interview. Here are a few of them:

• Describe the interrogations. What kind of questions were you asked? How were those questions directed at you? Were any of the circumstances particularly memorable (emotionally draining)?
• I would ask if he and his lawyers are planning to add the police into their civil lawsuit. It sounds like they crossed the line.
• I would ask Tim and his lawyers how big of a role the media played during those years shortly after the crime happened and then when he went to trial. How did the media make him look?
• Who do you hold most responsible for your convictions, the prosecutors or the police? Why?

If I could have asked questions, I would like to know if he wants his civil lawsuit to go to trial so he can have his day in court, or if he is willing to settle?

I'd also like to know if he still draws.

Meetings: Vampires of a university's lifeblood

If you work at a university in any capacity - custodian or president - you will attend meetings. Some people like meetings because they get paid for sitting around and talking or listening. Other people don't like them because they're a waste of time that could be spent on other efforts, such as teaching.

We had a department meeting at 8 a.m. today. It was fun chatting with my colleagues and laughing at the occasional wisecrack. But, frankly, most of the business could have been handled through e-mail. We didn't vote on anything and didn't make any decisions. But we did take an hour and 15 minutes to do essentially nothing.

Universities are fueled by meetings, many held by various committees. Everybody is expected to serve on a committee. I'm on two department committees now and in the past have served on committees at the college and university levels.

Committees are supposed to study issues and then make recommendations. Sometimes the powers that be go along with those recommendations. Other times, they reject them. Ultimately, all of the big decisions are made by a handful of powerful people - the president, provost or Board of Trustees.

The University of Wyoming is so obsessed with committees that there's even a Committee on Committees (I am not making this up). Imagine attending one of those meetings. Pass the caffeine pills, please. I mean the whole bottle.

There's got to be a more efficient way to run things. With current technology, we should be able to have virtual committees where we can take care of business with blackberries, ipods, cells, PDAs or other mobile devices. We could meet in our homes, cars or while waiting for the university's buses.

Let's hold a meeting on that.

Sorority House Party: Not the movie

Like most Americans, I've often wondered what life inside a sorority house is like. Last night, I found out.

I was invited to Kappa Kappa Gamma's spring scholarship banquet by Rachel, who became my favorite student this year when I found out cheesecake would be served for dessert.

My experience with Greek organizations has been limited, despite spending 25 years of my life in the academic world as a student and faculty member. I first set foot in a fraternity house when I was a poor grad student in Missoula, Mont. A couple friends and I decided that it would be prudent to crash some rush parties so we could drink free booze. Even though we drank a lot of their free booze, we were not invited to join.

My next trip to a frat house was in Laramie when a student invited me to the old Farmhouse Fraternity for a few beers. This dump was right out of Animal House, interior design by Bluto Blutarsky. Populated by cowboys, hicks, farmers and assorted deviants, the Farmhouse was right up my alley, if I had been 20 years younger.

But to date, my only knowledge of sorority houses came from movies. There is the scene in Animal House when the peeping Bluto watches scantily clad coeds engaged in pillow fighting. Sorority girls also seem to be favorite targets in slasher flicks.

Sorry Bluto, but the scene at Kappa Kappa Gamma was very civilized. On Sorority Row, I walked into a beautiful, old, brick home populated by well-dressed young women. I was reminded of my grandparents' old house with its large rooms, high ceilings and tasteful furniture and decor. I drank punch and chatted in the game room with Rachel and Shannon, another student in my classes. Meanwhile, a sorority sister played piano in the background.

Dinner was in a formal dining room with waiters serving the food. I managed not to spill spaghetti sauce on my shirt and, as far as I know, committed no social or etiquette faux pas during the meal. Did I mention there was cheesecake?

After the main course, the sorority honored members for their academic achievements, including making the president's and dean's lists, and maintaining 4.0 GPAs. Rachel and Shannon were deservedly noted for their impressive work. As I mentioned early in the party, KKG must be "the smart girls' sorority."

So I had the wrong impression of sororities, due to media portrayals. Maybe I have the wrong idea about fraternities, too. I offer the challenge to any fraternity members who want to try to change my mind about them.

Just don't forget the cheesecake.