These pieces originally appeared as a weekly column entitled "Lessons" in The New York Times between 1999 and 2003.

[ THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES ON JULY 17, 2002 ]

Athletics' valuable place on the American campus

By Richard Rothstein

Nashville – Thirty-eight university teachers and administrators from South Africa were here this spring, studying American higher education at Vanderbilt University and visiting other Tennessee colleges as well. They were seeking lessons that might apply to their own institutions, initially black-only colleges that are growing rapidly in the post-apartheid era.

What the visitors mainly learned was that American institutions succeed academically because they care about more than academics.

Abner Billy Boikhutso, a lecturer in management at a technical institute in northwestern South Africa, was struck by what he perceived as an overemphasis on college athletics in the United States. South Africans are also obsessed with sports, but their loyalty is more to regional teams or those sponsored by private clubs. The American desire for championship teams at the college level, Mr. Boikhutso thought, lowers standards, because colleges recruit athletes who are less academically capable than other students.

But Ntebo Ngozwana, a research coordinator at a college outside Pretoria, had a different view: contrary to appearances, she said, athletics, along with other extracurricular activities, seem to play a role in raising academic standards at American colleges.

During the South Africans' visit, Ms. Ngozwana was an intern in the provost's office at Fisk University here, established in 1866 to educate newly freed slaves. At Fisk and other American colleges, she noted, cheering for athletic teams builds institutional loyalty, and the colleges devote surprising resources to enhancing not just what is learned in the classroom but also the appeal and quality of campus life. Bookstores sell sweatshirts and caps with school logos. Dormitories are not only residences but also places where tutoring, social life and intellectual debate take place together.

The effort to develop school spirit has three purposes, Ms. Ngozwana concluded:

First, if college is made more attractive, students will be all the more motivated to do well academically, a requirement for remaining part of the community. That in turn will mean a larger number who remain to get their degrees.

Second, students will tell their younger friends at home that the college is fun. That will lead to more applications, making the college more academically selective.

Third, school spirit will lead alumni to make donations when they become successful adults. Alumni may remember few details about courses, but memories of undergraduate life inspire their response to fund-raising appeals.

The visitors saw a focus on the full undergraduate experience not only at Fisk but also at Tennessee State University (like Fisk, a historically black institution) and at Vanderbilt.

"All the universities we visited are grooming students to become loyal alumni later," said Constance Mametja, who lectures in public administration at Vista University in South Africa. "At home, our institutions previously got all their support from the government or from tuition. So we haven't had to be skilled fund-raisers. But now the South African government is demanding that our colleges use less state money. We will have to learn to cultivate alumni, and can only do this by improving the undergraduate experience."

Brian Noland, academic director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, which distributes financing to colleges in the state, said the South Africans understood the American system precisely. Research shows, he noted, that building a sense of community is a crucial way to keep students from dropping out. Athletics play a part, as do other extracurricular activities.

David Williams, Vanderbilt's vice chancellor for student life, confirmed as much, describing how his staff monitored students to ensure that each "finds a place — a chess club, dance group, newspaper, sorority or volunteerism — to make sure they enjoy their time here." Mr. Williams's office even promotes a slogan for undergraduates that says "it's cool" to be a Vanderbilt student.

Mr. Williams plans to stay in touch with the South Africans to help them create what he termed a "family environment and democratic experience" at their universities. That, he added, will be especially challenging, though not impossible, for South Africa's urban commuter colleges.

The South African visitors hope that their institutions can learn from these lessons. Ms. Ngozwana, for example, plans to urge that her college put more emphasis on social and athletic activities. She wants to begin keeping track of alumni as undergraduate life becomes more memorable.

Up close, it may seem that American universities' diverse functions — academics, sports, social and residential life, and community service — are disconnected enterprises of institutions that have lost track of academic missions. But foreigners can see that the whole is really bigger than the sum of the parts.

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