Going to tweet for a while, some of the more interesting snippets from my reporting on college athlete literacy. Standby.
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
I asked for the entrance exam scores, (&in some cases aptitude scores) of athletes bw 2007-12, playing football and basketball.
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
Almost a dozen experts in different fields told me anything below 400 on SAT reading/17 on ACT, is not capable of college reading.
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
21 universities gave me data. Plus, have anecdotes from many whistleblowers.
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
"The NCAA continually wants to ignore this fact, but they are admitting students who cannot read." Gerald Gurney, Oklahoma
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
The NCAA says that in 2012 alone, 30 entering football and basketball players were made eligible with very low SAT/ACT scores.
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
"The so-called grad rates have gone up considerably, but it's entirely a product of how the grad rates are determined." Tom Palaima, UT
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
"I had an athlete (FSU) who couldn't read or write.The academic support person would call every wk and chk on this athlete." Kadence Otto
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
Allen Sack: "Unconscionable to bring in a young athlete who does not fit in the gen. profile of the student body & have them play..on TV."
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
"You can't say we don't want them anymore, they're here." Brian Davis, Texas, about athletes reading at a low level.
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
"We have to make really a moral decision.Let's make sure we're bringing people in who have a good chance at being successful." Davis, UT
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
"What do you do with these students while you are remediating them? You have to resort to cheating. That's the way it works." G. Gurney
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
Here's THE most essential quote Ganim tweeted...
"College presidents have put in jeopardy the academic credibility of their U's just so we can have this entertainment industry." G. Gurney
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
"UGA is graduating #2 at SEC, so they're able to graduate athletes, but have they learned anything?" Billy Hawkins,UGA prof/athlete mentor
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
"Abt 10% of all the special admits each year had severe learning disabilities .. anywhere from the 1st to the 4th grade levels." Gurney
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
"We are putting these elite athletes into classes where they can't understand the textbooks." Gerald Gurney, Oklahoma
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
"The cheating has become institutionalized ... That's really frightening." Allen Sack, The Drake Group.
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
It can be overcome. Louisville spox: One of the students with ACT scores below the threshold went on to medical school.
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
One school just never responded to our request: University of South Carolina
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
Bensel-Meyers:Tenn. athletics hired a psych. to diagnose learning disabled athletes, put them on a track with tutors to read/write for them
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
Bensel-Meyers says the U broke into her office at night to take files. She left in 2003, when she got death threats mentioning her kids.
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
“These athletes came to us essentially illiterate and still left the school functionally illiterate.” Bensel-Meyers, of records she saw.
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
Tennessee didn't answer my questions about Bensel-Meyers claims.
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
“You cannot come here with a 3rd, 4th, 5th grade education and get a degree here.” Mary Willingham, UNC.
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
By far, the lowest percentage of athletes scoring below the threshold was at Wisconsin. Only 2/122 athletes scored lower than the threshold.
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
This didn’t make the piece, but Willingham says one recruit was promised he could study at UNC to become a barber. (cont.)
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
(cont.) “He seriously thought he was coming to Carolina, literally, to learn to cut hair.” Mary Willingham.
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014
One of the saddest anecdotes From Mary: An athlete who would make progress with reading, then forget it all. Too many concussions.
— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014