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Academic Standards
It is the responsibility of each student-athlete to communicate directly with his or her professor when academics and athletic schedules have a conflict. All departure times of contests away from campus are communicated to faculty from the athletic department administration at the beginning of each season. The Department of Athletics is sensitive to the academic demands and tries to minimize the amount of missed class time. The College has established specific guidelines for participating in intercollegiate athletics which can be found in the Student-Athlete Handbook.
The College recognizes the many benefits of intercollegiate athletics for the student-athletes as well as the entire Dean College community. Athletics serves as an integrated component in the overall Dean College student experience while at no point diminishing the priority of its academic mission. To optimize communication among all parties involved, the following guidelines are encouraged:
1. Student-athletes must recognize that the academic demands of Dean College take precedence in any situation in which conflicts arise between academic obligations and practice for and participation in athletics.
2. Student-athletes must recognize that it is their responsibility, not that of the professor, to accommodate the demands of athletic participation to their academic responsibilities. While professors are often sympathetic to the conflicts that do arise, they are not obligated to make changes in schedules, assignments, or tests either for practices, intercollegiate contests or the travel they require.
3. If conflicts arise, it is the obligation of the student to inform both the professors and the coaches and find a way to meet the academic obligation. Students are advised to discuss potential conflicts with their professors at the beginning of each term.
4. The first obligation of all students is to attend classes as scheduled. Missing a class or a lab to attend practice is not acceptable.
5. Dean College encourages faculty to make clear their policies on attendance and the dates of examination at the start of each term on their syllabi.
In addition, everyone is to be reminded of NCAA Bylaw 17.1.4.2 It reads:
"Missed Class Time-Practice. No class time shall be missed at any one time (e.g. regular academic term, mini term, summer term) for practice activities except when a team is traveling to an away-from-home contest and the practice is in conjunction with the contest."
Amateurism
To participate in intercollegiate athletics student-athletes must maintain an amateur status [Bylaw 12]. Dean's athletic program, like many other membership institutions, is designed to maintain a clear line of demarcation between college athletics and professional sports. Amateur status and eligibility to compete at the collegiate level will be lost if you
1. Taken pay, or promise of payment, for competing in that sport;
2. Agreed (orally or in writing) to compete in professional athletics in that sport;
3. Competed on any professional athletics team (as defined by the NCAA) in that sport or;
4. Used your athletic skill for pay in any form of sport
5. Accepted money, transportation, or other benefits for an agent or agreed to have an agent market your athletic ability or reputation
6. After becoming a student-athlete, accepted any pay of promoting a commercial product or service.
Banned Substances/Illegal Drugs
If the NCAA tests you for the banned drug classes [Bylaw 31.2.3.4 and/or 14.1.1.1] and you test positive, you will be ineligible to participate in regular-season and postseason competition for up to one calendar year (365 days) after your positive drug test and you will be charged with the loss of a minimum of one season of participation in all sports. Note if you test positive a second time for the use of any drug, other than a "street drug" as defined in [Bylaw 31.2.3.4] will result in the loss of lifetime eligibility. In addition, a policy adopted by the NCAA Executive Committee establishes that the penalty for missing a scheduled drug test is the same as the penalty for testing positive for the use of a banned drug other than a street drug. [Bylaw 18.4.1.5.1.4]
If you are under a drug-testing suspension from a national or international sports governing body, you will not be eligible for NCAA intercollegiate competition for the duration of the suspension.
As a transfer student-athlete, if tested positive and you immediately transfer to a non-NCAA institution while ineligible and competes in collegiate competition within the 365-day period at non-NCAA institution, the student-athlete will be ineligible for all NCAA regular-season and postseason competition until the student-athlete completes the initial suspension at an NCAA institution.
Playing Season
Practice is defined as any meeting, activity or instruction involving sports related information and having an athletic purpose. It can consist of field, floor, or court activity that may or may not involve setting up offensive or defensive alignments, chalk talk, lectures on strategies, activities using equipment related to sport, or review of film, which could include game film. If a student-athlete is required to participate in any or all of the mentioned categories including camps, clinics and contest, the student-athlete will begin counting the allowed seasons of participation.
Under NCAA rules a student-athlete is allowed four seasons of participation within ten semesters of full-time enrollment. A student-athlete must count a season of participation when he or she practices or competes during or after the first contest following the student-athlete's initial enrollment at that school. As a transfer student-athlete you will become eligible once an academic tracer is received from the transferring institution, and you would have remained eligible to participate or have graduated.
If you are a transfer student-athlete and have used a season(s) of participation according to the regulations at another institution you might be obligated to fulfill an academic semester in residence prior to being eligible to represent your school in intercollegiate competition unless you would have been academically and athletically eligible if you would have remained at that institution.
Activities Constituting Use of a Season
1. A student-athlete must count a season of participation when he or she practices or competes during or after the first contest following the student-athlete's initial participation at that school. [Bylaw 14.2.4.1]
2. A season of participation shall not be counted when a student-athlete participates in a preseason scrimmage or preseason exhibition conducted prior to the first contest scheduled.
3. A season of participation shall not be counted when a student-athlete practices in the nontraditional sports segment. [Bylaw 14.2.4.1]
