By Hannah Austin
At this year’s Mr. Buff competition, contestant Jeff Preptit jokingly referred to athletes and “Milligan-ites” within the Milligan community in his “State of the Union” speech to the “Buffalo Nation.” He might have been joking, but the divide seems to be a reality between athletes and non-athletes.
Preptit, a sophomore and political science major, believes that because many student-athletes spend much time together with their own sports teams, they may lack the time to get to know other students.
“There is definitely a divide among the student body,” relays Preptit “It’s there, it’s prevalent, but I understand how it come’s about.”
Preptit relays that responsibility to help the divide is in the hands of the students, not in the hands of administration.
“I think it’s a student’s responsibility to mold the social construct,” says Preptit..
Adam Coto, a soccer player, provides further explanation for subtle student division between student athletes and student non-athletes.
“I don’t think it’s some significant problem or purposeful creation,” says Coto. “Naturally, when you are always with a group of people, your team, they are the ones you’re, for the most part, are going to be close to.”
Dr. Ruth Lavender, professor of humanities and English, has experienced some differences with athletes and non-athletes in the classroom due to schedule conflicts.
“Every once in a while, in my first few years, I had male soccer players out every week,” Lavender recalls.
But as Milligan coaches have grown more accommodating towards academic affairs over her 15 years at Milligan College, Lavender has experienced less conflict with athletes missing classes. Lavender also emphasizes that she has taught several excellent athletes during her career.
“I’ve had some wonderful student-athletes, including an All-American runner now currently in a Ph.D. program,” says Lavender.
Lavender explained that she holds the same expectations for all students, whether athlete or not. She also expects the same from students of different performance levels, and no student should have an excuse for not performing up to their potential.
“You don’t have to be an A-student to impress me, you just need to get your butt to class,” says Lavender.
She thought that providing economic incentive to different groups of people would help in reducing the break in community. She wished for more scholarships and aid for students interested in the arts and humanities fields.
On a survey titled “Undergraduate Financial Aid Overview” issued by The Stampede during March of 2013, students awarded fine arts and music scholarships reported having individual scholarships that were less in monetary value as compared to academic or athletic scholarships.
Those quoted in the article suggest that there may be a subtle divide between athletes and non-athletes, Preptit suggests that students can “mold the social construct” themselves. Lavender suggests that action can be taken to encourage a more diverse pool of students to enroll at Milligan through financial aid incentives.
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