New hire in athletics a step forward
While the Princeton Review recently ranked Rice number two in the best race/class interaction at a university (See story, page 1), the interaction amongst diverse groups does not always extend to athletes. Athletes have always been a somewhat isolated group from the rest of the student body. Because the practice times for many athletes, especially football players, typically coincides with many O-Week activities, there have been several O-Weeks in the past in which athletes were quarantined in gyms while their classmates were learning profane cheers or meeting people around campus. Perhaps as a result of this segregation during O-Week, some athletes never truly became integrated into the Rice culture. But Rice is taking a step forward with the appointment of Assistant Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Development Suzanne Boué (See story, page 8).According to Boué, the athletic department has always had people working to help athletes become integrated with the university. But it's the creation of Boué's position that really shows that the athletic department is making a focused effort to help athletes become more involved at the university.
Having a diverse student population is one of President David Leebron's points in the Vision for the Second Century, but it's easy to assume that diversity only applies to people of different ethnicities, nationalities or socioeconomic classes. Interaction between student-athletes and the general student body at large is something that should not be overlooked. Although Boué's position within the athletic department entails more than just facilitating interaction between student-athletes and non-athletes, the importance of this aspect of her job should not be minimized.
And while we consider Boué's appointment great progress, Rice should not stop there. We hope that in the long run the university will continue long-term changes in athletes' connection to the university, so that Rice becomes more than just the team they play for.
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