At 10:48 PM 2/28/96, Antony Garcia wrote:
>Moreover, it would be completely ludicrous to say that only Ivy league
>schools or only ECAC schools are committed to academic excellence (and I
>don't think that was what BRUNO was trying to say).
> That said, in my years as an Harvard student and alum, I have
>discovered the same thing that BRUNO undoubtedly has. Namely that,
>whatever my intentions, people sometimes get very defensive about their
>schools whenever I said anything about the Ivy league or my alma mater
>(which is why I'm usually pretty tight-lipped about those subjects).
I should probably clarify the reason for my response earlier, and I'll use
Tony's comments as a springboard.
Often here, we've seen discussions about things like the reason for the
split between the ECAC and HE and the differences between the two leagues.
What has been unfortunate has been when those discussions have degenerated
into name-calling, such as a charge by some ECAC/Ivy followers that a
difference is that the ECAC/Ivies are committed to academics and the HE
schools are not.
I've gone to schools in both leagues and found that this is not true. I
use the example of Merrimack because there is clear evidence that the
Merrimack hockey program is committed to the academic excellence of its
players - and their incredible success in that area gives me something to
crow about, given their relative lack of success on the ice. :-)
I do believe and recognize that the ECAC/Ivy schools are of a higher
caliber than Merrimack and most other HE schools. I guess that there have
been too many times in the past, even when I was in the ECAC, that I have
heard people go on to challenge the academic commitment of other players
outside the ECAC, and I think it is important to point out that it is
unfair to make this claim.
To me, as I said in email to some people, the whole point of the ECAC/Ivy
academic restrictions is that the schools are proving that they do not
compromise their academics for athletics. That is an admirable quality.
But we can also find examples of schools outside the ECAC that also do not
compromise their commitment to academics, and Merrimack is one of those
schools.
In discussing this topic, that should be a prime concern. Merrimack is
able to admit some student-athletes that don't have the qualifications to
be admitted to Ivies, but what is most important is that they do admit SAs
who are at least consistent with the rest of the students they admit, and
moreover, the players go on to achieve on an average much higher than the
average Merrimack non-athlete does (14 players - about 2/3 of the team -
were named to the Dean's List last fall). And in those instances in which
a player does not meet the minimum standards - and Merrimack's minimum
standards for SAs are higher than the NCAA's - the school/program has never
compromised those standards to allow a player to retain eligibility. Twice
they have denied eligibility to star players in the second semester of
their senior years because those players met the NCAA standards but not the
school's standards. Once it cost them an NCAA bid (1989, when they were
still an Independent).
I do admit that I am probably more sensitive to implications that non-ECAC
or non-Ivy schools do not have the same academic commitment, because of
everything I have heard in the past from both sides. I believed
Bruno/Charles was implying this, thus my response...he says he was not, so
as I said in email to him, I accept that and apologize for drawing the
wrong conclusion. It is still good to air these issues here, however.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] *HMM* 11/13/93
>> Co-owner of the College Hockey Lists at University of Maine System <<
***** Unofficial Merrimack Hockey home page located at: *****
***** http://www.tiac.net/users/machnik/MChockey/MChockey.html *****
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.
|
