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Volume CXXXIII, Number 6 |
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The Forum
Question: Do you think athletics are too prominent at Bowdoin?
Of the colleges in the New England Small College Athletic Conference
(NESCAC), Bowdoin boasts some pretty impressive athletic statistics. Over
fifty percent of male undergraduates in the 1998-1999 school year participated
in varsity athletics, and a little under forty percent of the female students
played on a varsity team. These numbers give Bowdoin the highest percentage
of undergraduate varsity athletes in the NESCAC, above Williams, Colby,
Amherst, Middlebury, and all the rest. The numbers alone show that Bowdoin
College overemphasizes athletics.
The focus on athletics goes against the very goals of the Bowdoin Admissions
Department. We have all discussed the need to diversify Bowdoin's student
body, and Admissions continues to work hard to attract minority students
and students from outside of the New England region. Yet with all the
talk of the diversifying the student body, Bowdoin continues to have a
blind spot for athletes.
I am not saying that athletes are one-dimensional and do not contribute
to the school in a variety of ways. I am merely asking why we don't recruit
musicians, artists, dancers, and actors as actively as we recruit athletes.
The prominence of athletics is evident in the facilities on campus as
well. Bowdoin has two gyms, an indoor track, a football field, an Olympic-sized
swimming pool, tennis courts, a fitness center, and not one, but two buildings
that have squash courts. The Music Department is contained to one small
building with very limited practice space and only one rehearsal room
where the Concert Band, MidCoast Symphony Orchestra, Polar Jazz Band,
and various other ensemble groups practice. There is also no concert hall
on campus, meaning that the various music ensembles are forced to compete
for space in Kresge Auditorium (which is not acoustically designed for
musical performances), Pickard Theater (home of Theater and Dance), and
the Chapel (adjoined to the Psychology Department's offices, meaning no
rehearsals until after 4:00 p.m.). Bowdoin is an academic college, yet
it seems some of its academic departments receive less attention and funding
than its Athletic Department.
I hope in the future Bowdoin reevaluates its priorities. I love going
to a hockey game as much as anybody else, but Bowdoin needs a better balance
of activities, and more specifically, a better balance in funding.
-Allison Robbins '02
Athletics bring diversity and liveliness to the Bowdoin campus. Athletes
need athletics to excel in academics because athletics put a constraint
on time that forces athletes to be disciplined about how they spend their
time. Juggling multiple commitments is a huge part of life and by saying
athletics are too prominent, it implies that Bowdoin students should postpone
dealing with that balancing act until after college, devoting all of their
efforts to the classroom. This will not help with living in the real world.
Furthermore, physical activity keeps a person happy and healthy.
-Amanda Cowen '03
Relatively speaking, for a small liberal arts college, Bowdoin has an
albeit high percentage of student-athletes. However, I do not exactly
agree that they "are too prominent."
Because Bowdoin draws a large number of relatively active athletic students,
it might seem that the prominence of athletes on our small campus overshadows
that of other activities. Nonetheless, if athletics seem "too prominent,"
this is a remark more on our greater society.
Athletics are prominent in our general culture because individuals, "spectators,"
and fans follow such activities. As a SOCIETY, we have determined the
importance of athletics; for this reason, nearly every national paper
includes a sports-section.
Therefore, it seems that the only way to diminish the prominence of athletes
on this campus would be to reduce the publicity that it receives.
-Kristin Pollock '04
I don't think that athletics are too prominent at Bowdoin. At any other
institution of a comparable quality of education (Colby, Middlebury),
athletics are in my opinion a bigger deal than they are here at Bowdoin.
Even schools with more alternative inclinations (Vassar, Wesleyan) have
top-notch and competitive athletic programs. Furthermore, at top-tier
universities (Harvard, Yale, Stanford), athletics are a focal point for
the student body. Did you know that at most of these schools the athletic
functions are not only well-attended, but the students pay to see them?
If Bowdoin athletics really were too prominent, we would have to charge
people to get in, rather than beg them to come.
-Chad Colton '02
The aspect of athletics at Bowdoin is absolutely not too prominent, but
integral. A healthy mind requires a healthy body, and athletics provide
an outlet for success, health, stress-relief, and gaining new skills.
Here at Bowdoin, there is definitely not a lack in academic success for
students, even top athletes. Bowdoin students have a healthy balance between
schoolwork and other activities, be it the arts, athletics, community
service, other clubs, etc. Time spent in athletics, I find, is also helpful
for gaining time-management skills. Athletics are just one of the many
extra-curricular activities that keep students healthy, involved, and
well-rounded.
-Jessica Burke '04
I do not think that athletics are too prominent at Bowdoin. As over 70%
of the student population voluntarily chooses to participate in some form
of athletics, I feel as if athletics represent an integral part of Bowdoin's
personality and integrity. If anything, I feel as if athletics are UNDERVALUED,
relative to some other aspects of the Bowdoin life.
-Elizabeth Barney '03