Students question process for athletic conference switch
by Anna McCormally
Correction appended
Controversy erupted at Earlham earlier this month when it was revealed that the college, which currently plays all of its sports in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), might be switching to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC).
Students have taken issue with the possibility of the switch on many different levels, including the lesser athletic reputation of the HCAC, and the absence of field hockey in the HCAC, which could result in the sport being cut at Earlham. But what angered Earlham students the most about the potential conference switch are issues with the governance process at Earlham.
Two months ago, two presidents from the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference approached Earlham College President Doug Bennett, proposing that Earlham make the switch.
“I thought that was worth giving some thought to,” Bennett said. “The Athletics Committee, in my understanding, on their own initiative, has talked for many years about whether we’re in the right athletic conference.”
The Earlham Athletics Committee is a standing committee comprised of Vice President for Financial Affairs Dick Smith, Academic Dean Greg Mahler, Dean of Student Development Deb McNish, Athletics Director Frank Carr, Assistant Athletics Director Jill Butcher, AWPE Convenor Liana Coutts, Vice President of Community Relations Avis Stewart, Psychology Professors Vince Punzo and Mary Schwendener-Holt, Assistant English Professor Nate Eastman, Associate Dean of Admission Shenita Piper, and Development Officer Newell Pledger-Shinn.
The committee also includes two student representatives; in this case, freshmen Pablo Hernandez-Romero and Evelyn Tandy.
Bennett proposed to the Athletics Committee that the time was ripe for the switch they had been considering, and asked them to make a quick decision.
“If you’re going to move [conferences] you pretty much want to make up your mind, on your own,” he said.
Reasons for the switch involve the difference in competitive levels between the schools in the NCAC and HCAC. Bennett said that Earlham’s goal is to win half of its games every season, and that the switch would help achieve that goal.
Pablo Hernandez-Romero, a soccer player, didn’t agree with that reasoning.
“I can only really speak for myself and, I think, for the men’s soccer team, but I don’t think we should switch conferences,” he said. He disagreed that the HCAC would provide a better competitive scene for Earlham teams.
“I think there would be many consequences concerning Earlham’s ideals,” he said.
Other reasons for the switch have to do with the geographic location of the schools in the NCAC versus the schools in the HCAC. Without the NCAC’s wide geographic sweep, Earlham would save money on travel costs and student athletes would miss less class time due to traveling. It was also suggested that more faculty would be able to attend Earlham sports games if they were not held so far away.
Hernandez-Romero also disagreed on this count.
“Vince Punzo proposed that if rides were only an hour and a half away, more faculty would be more likely to ride with the teams to go to games. Which I find kind of ridiculous … I mean they can’t even come to our home games, a five minute walk from Carpenter Hall … what would make them go on an hour and a half bus ride?”
When asked about the rumor that field hockey might be cut as a result of the switch, Bennett brought up that Earlham would be one of only two schools in the whole conference with field hockey.
“That would create an awkward situation,” he said, but added that the switch would not necessarily mean the end of Earlham field hockey.
Because of the sensitive nature of the potential switch, and out of loyalty to the NCAC, Bennett asked the Athletics Committee that the topic not be discussed too widely.
“These matters are sort of tricky, it’s awkward to talk about them in public. In general, colleges do not talk about them in public…it’s a dangerous analogy, but it’s a little like marital infidelity. If you’re going to be unfaithful, you want to do it in secret,” Bennett said.
It is this very issue of secrecy, or, as Earlham sophomore Jonah Kreniske said it in a Word opinion piece on April 24, the “lack of transparency” in Earlham governance, that has angered Earlham students. Earlham Student Government (ESG), which was not originally included in the conversation about switching conferences, only learned that the discussion was taking place when Hernandez-Romero broke the confidentiality he felt he’d been asked to keep by Bennett.
Hernandez-Romero felt that the recommendation reached by the Athletics Committee, that Earlham make the switch from NCAC to HCAC, was not valid, as it had been reached with only seven out of fourteen members of the committee present at the meeting.
While Bennett feels that since there is no quorum rule for Earlham committees, the consensus was valid, some feel otherwise.
“It wasn’t fair for this decision to be made without the student athletes being represented,” Hernandez-Romero.
It is true that the Student Athletics Advisory Committee (SAAC), which is comprised of two student athletes from each Earlham team, was not consulted when the decision was being made.
“[TJ Ferrick, co-convenor of SAAC] was upset that SAAC wasn’t, or at least he wasn’t, really involved in this conversation,” Hernandez-Romero said.
In an e-mail to the student body after the issue was finally discussed at a SAAC meeting, senior soccer player Madeline Daskovsky and senior field hockey player Ruby Laskin expressed anger that student representatives to the Athletic Committee Tandy and Hernandez-Romero “were effectively sworn to secrecy regarding the instigation of this recommendation so as to not publicly jeopardize our loyalty to the NCAC.”
Hernandez-Romero didn’t identify with that wording.
“I don’t feel like I was “sworn to secrecy” per se, but I felt like there was a general understanding in the room…it wasn’t approved or disapproved,” he said.
“Doug had pretty much come into the first meeting and said that it should be a confidential issue,” he added.
Bennett disagreed with Daskovsky and Laskin even further. “I don’t believe I ever used the word secrecy, or confidentiality,” he said, but later admitted, “it’s conceivable I erred in asking the Athletics Committee to not talk about the matter extremely widely. I did ask them, I’ll take the heat for that…I’m prepared to be persuaded that [not informing ESG about the potential conference switch] wasn’t a great idea.”
“I’ve been a little surprised by all the student concern about those issues,” Bennett said, referring to the multiple governance issues that have arisen at Earlham in recent weeks. “I don’t think there’s a governance issue.”
But whether there is a problem with governance at Earlham or not will have to reevaluated when students return in the fall.
Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly identified Shenita Piper as director of Multicultural Affairs. Piper’s correct title is Associate Dean of Admissions. She is also the director of multicultural recruitment. The Word regrets this error.
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