Duke athletics is looking for increased investment in its programs and facilities to live up to new standards of academic and athletic excellence, Michael Gillespie, chair of the Athletic Council, said Thursday.
Gillespie, who is also a professor of political science, presented the Athletic Strategic Plan, which was drafted last fall, to the Arts and Sciences Council at the group's biweekly meeting.
The council also approved changes to the current course withdrawal policy.
Gillespie discussed issues facing athletics, including the need for a high performance standard, better facilities and increased academic and athletic collaboration.
He said athletics must be held to a "championship metric" in line with Duke's stated mission of "unrivaled excellence."
Gillespie pointed to the football team's recent performance as unrepresentative of Duke's excellence. The team went 6-45 over the past four years.
"Programs ought to not simply have winning seasons but be able to compete for championships," Gillespie said. "We find it unacceptable to bring anyone to Duke-let alone 90 people who we're giving scholarships to-to be on the worst of anything, whether it's a debate team or a football team."
Besides the "championship metric," the discussion also focused on the need to reconcile the athletic and academic commitments of athletes.
Judith Ruderman, adjunct professor of English and vice provost for academic and administrative services, raised the issue of athletes unable to participate in seminar classes due to travel.
Bob Thompson, dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, responded that varsity athlete absences in a participation-based class is a more pressing issue than in an exam-based class, as a test can be rescheduled whereas participation cannot.
"What you try to reconcile are things that are not exactly reconcilable," Thompson said. "You can't make up an experience that you get if you participate [in a seminar], and that's the fundamental issue, the issue we've been trying to address all along."
Gillespie called for an overhaul of some facilities and for an increase in "institutional investment" in athletics. He added that Duke has the least expensive athletics program among peer institutions.
The program costs approximately $7.5 million, Gillespie said. The athletics program at Wake Forest-the next least expensive program-costs about $13.6 million.
Gillespie did not, however, focus only on varsity athletics. He also called for increased development of intramural and club sports.
"We basically need to provide more opportunities to students," he said. "We meet our general fitness needs decently well, although if any of you have ever tried to swim at Duke you know that's next to impossible."
Following Gillespie's presentation, Norman Keul, associate dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, announced changes to the withdrawal policy that will replace the 'WP/WF' and 'WE' distinctions with a single 'W.'
The 'WP' distinction previously indicated a student withdrew from a class while passing, and 'WF' indicated a student withdrew with a failing mark. The 'WE' mark stood for withdrawal due to an error during registration.
He said the changes were proposed because 'WF' was not applied consistently by professors as most only used 'WP' to indicate withdrawal, regardless of the student's actual grade at the time.
"What we have in fact in Trinity and [the Pratt School of Engineering] is a one-grade system and we just don't recognize it as such," Keul said. "What we're proposing here is to make the grading structure align with actual practice of the faculty."
The changes were approved by unanimous voice vote.
In other business:
Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, presented an overview of the Division of Student Affairs and its constituent departments. He discussed "global areas of interest" for student affairs, including focusing on health and wellness, promoting ethical and engaged citizens and better utilizing the University's resources.
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