Other departments across the campus are following the EVO program. I was contacted some months back to take part in a 'speed interview' type program as part of a class offered in L&S. it was based on the quarterly events that EVO has been hosting for the past several months, and the instructor got my name from EVO staff.

I believe that the EVO program was initiated to aid student athletes in getting ready for jobs post graduation. In a D-1 era that has become much more important because the time student athletes spend in training and practice is significantly greater. In my time as a student I had buddies who were never able to attend many study hall or cram sessions because of their obligations as athletes. I often wondered how they even managed to pass some classes. Plus, if their teams reached the playoffs or post season competition it’s was usually around mid terms or finals. They were taking their finals on planes or buses! In other words EVO was intended to correct a problem not elevate certain students over others. Therefore, I fully hope that EVO is going to be very effective in leveling the “playing field” if you will for student athletes.

I respect that you see it that way. I disagree, however, on the basis that being a student-athlete is a choice and time management skills are required. It is not mandatory that they play sports to go to college.
If money is a concern without an athletic scholarship they can do what everyone else does-apply for financial, academic scholarships and/or get a job. Everyone probably knows about the necessity of time management skills going in. Whether they develop those skills or not is up to them.

Yes, it's difficult to manage all of it but these things come with the territory. I believe the university is under no obligation to assist student-athletes with future employment prospects any more than they are the rest of the student body. That doesn't mean there can't be resources available to help students, just that these resources should be open to all students to at apply for what's available. If the majority of those accepted to such programs based on academic merit wind up being student-athletes so be it.

The idea that athletes are at a disadvantage is likely heavily-based on the thinking that non-athletes have more time available due to no training and competition. The training and competition in themselves are just the athlete's equivalent of having jobs to pay for school, which is a very real requirement for many non-athletes.

For the record I completely support there being programs exclusively for members of the military. and essential public servants. I do not elevate a student-athlete to the same essential status as say, a firefighter. Sports competition is not essential. I can live without them, and so can everyone else. So I reject the implication (not that you made it directly, just saying) that a university owes an ordinary student-athlete anything for competing beyond whatever scholarships were promised and any financial obligations determined by a court of law for damages suffered. I made the "ordinary" distinction because extraordinary athletes whose NIL are used to bring in money are entitled to be paid.

What we have here is a disagreement over a university's responsibilities to its student-athletes, and that's fine. When I made the original post I didn't expect to find myself with popular opinions. I'm not trying to change anyone's, and I'm not changing mine, just voice the ones I have to people who would understand what I'm talking about. Mission accomplished.

Well said AggieFinn2. You make some very valid points.

I believe that was what the DII days were all about - treat the student athletes like all other students.

in an era where NLI is running wild for athletes, i see no problem with a athletic program investing in a program that prepares the student-athletes for their future after graduation. might be a question of why engineering or other programs aren't doing something similar?

EVO seems like a good program that should be available to everyone. One of the challenges with UCD is its sheer size and can be very impersonal if you don’t find your way into some sort of smaller connected cohort and I can relate to the “now what” feeling as senior year winds down. My experience in Letters and Sciences was that it was very difficult to build relationships with faculty and college staff unless you had some sort of marketable personal story like digging wells in Africa without hands or whatever. And it seemed like the internship and career center wasn’t nearly as interested as they were in engineering and bio sciences students. So the idea of building accessible connections with alumni and employers in a broad range of areas who kind of have ordinary professions rather than just the “change the world” types that make it into UCD Magazine seems noble. High schools peddle this lie that good jobs come looking for you if you go to a good university. That may be reality for a few fields, but for many fields the diploma is not as convincing on its own as you’ve been led to believe and you to have to have additional marketable skills and experience to be competitive.

I think that was an excellent way of explaining why UCD needs better resources available to all students, not just the athletes. Employers don't want to hire people with no experience, but where do you get the experience if no one will hire you in that field without experience ? Especially in these days of staffing shortages there needs to be an easier way to get qualified college graduates into jobs, even if they're just entry level with merit-based promotions upon acquisition of needed skills. The university needs to be playing matchmaker for everyone who deserves it if they're doing it for athletes.

And perhaps UCD doesn't need to be Division I. Are student athletes any more successful in their career fields because they played Division I sports ? As alumni our access to the front porch is mostly limited to campus events for the community (Picnic Day for example) and athletic competitions, so it's natural for us to want to see our favorite teams compete at the highest level, but is it the right thing for the school ? I think the jury's still out on that. There are supporting details for both answers.