These values are as important in the department of athletics as they are in the office of the dean. Keeping faith with student-athletes means keeping faith with women as well as men. The goal to keep in mind is the imperative to create comparable opportunities for participants, whether men or women, while controlling cost. Joan K. Schmidt is an assistant professor of physical education at Eastern Illinois University. Tremaine Fowlkes should be allowed to make his own decision.
College is a time when young men and women learn to make their own decisions.
They aren't always the right ones, but those who don't get a chance to learn from their mistakes in college often make similar mistakes later in life, when they can be more costly. Those in charge of intercollegiate sports, though, use rules to control athletes and take away their decision-making powers. With very few exceptions, transferring athletes must sit out a year before they can play for their new school, and that's a good idea. Those who transfer within the Pac-10 not only have to sit out a year, but they lose a year of eligibility. No such restrictions are put on coaches, of course, who move from school to school without penalty.