The Guilfordian

Guilford prides itself on the ability to live up to what it believes in. The college strives to produce a student body who can think critically by submerging themselves in a diverse community, and attempts to guide their students with such Quaker beliefs as community, equality, and peace. These values, anchored by an emphasis on problem solving, should give Guilford students the ability to "Promote positive change in the world," as the college states in its mission statement. A student-athlete divide doesn't support Guilford's desire to produce a student body representative of these qualities.

Bob Malekoff, who has over 20 years of experience as a coach and athletic director, is currently an assistant professor of sport studies at Guilford. He believes that Guilford is not in a league of its own when it comes to the student-athlete divide.

"The divide on this campus is no different than any other school like Guilford," said Malekoff, who also works for The College Sports Project, which deals with ways to change issues like the student-athlete divide. "Fault lies in communication with what is said and what's not said."

When a student attends Guilford, the goal is that he or she will receive a newfound understanding and appreciation for the values the college stresses. Students here major in one or two subjects, but learn so much more.

"Look at our curriculum, you specialize in one thing but learn of other things," Malekoff said. "With a student-athlete divide, we fail to meet our goal as a college."

According to Malekoff, the student-athlete divide "is a two-way street." When you first attend Guilford, many students tend to surround themselves with other people who have similar interests and tastes as they do. If you're an athlete then you'll probably surround yourself with other athletes, and if you're not then you probably won't. So the matter at hand comes down to an issue of time.

"If you look at the intensity of all the programs - sports, arts, theatre, etc - it's hard for people to find the time to integrate themselves with other people," Malekoff said.

It also comes down to this idea of pre-conceived notions.

"The reality is, the amount of people who participate in athletics at a small, liberal arts school is greater," Malekoff said.

Currently, 25 percent of the student body plays a sport, which means that this percentage is more than likely going to associate amongst themselves. The pre-conceived notions that this 25 percent has about the rest of the student body must change, and the pre-conceived notions that the rest of the student body has about them must also change.

Malekoff believes in focusing on the ways in which we integrate the two groups.

"It has to be intentional and ongoing," said Malekoff.

Last year produced what will forever be a notorious fight, with student responses that will always play a part in the student-athlete divide. The incident pushed the athlete, non-athlete divide to the foreground of every discussion, forcing us to discuss it. What we did in reaction to the fight in Bryan must be ongoing, and a continuous part of this school. If not, then everything Guilford stands for and represents is thrown away.

"On a regular basis, you set up opportunities for people to learn more about each other and interact with each other," Malekoff said. "(We need to) cut through these mis-conceptions. A lot of it is more subtle than mandatory things."

This student-athlete divide goes against everything Guilford represents. It's up to the entire Guilford community to change it.

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