The October 2, 2015 edition of The Stute featured an article regarding the club sports P.E. academic credit policy at Stevens. For those who have not read the article, it outlined the fact that club sports are no longer eligible to receive P.E. credit. The article investigated several issues related to club sports and P.E. credit, notably the lack of infrastructure present in the club sports program and the difficulties inherent in the program with confirming participation within the sport. It cited these problems as the reason that club sports are no longer eligible for P.E. credit.
I am a member of a club sports team at Stevens and can attest to the validity of this problem. Many club sports focus mainly on their basic purpose, which is to enhance their skills in the sport through practice and competition. Varsity teams at Stevens have an entire coaching staff that dedicates their time to coordinating practice times, competitions, and keeping track of all the logistical matters of the team. While club sports at Stevens do not have the depth of coaching staff and support that the varsity teams do, in the past many teams have had coaches that were either hired or volunteered their time to help the team develop and keep track of the logistical matters of the team. This year, a change was made in the club sports policy: now all teams are required to have a coach.
And yet, the privilege of P.E. credit was still removed from the club sports program this year. The Club Sports Handbook, updated and released annually, outlines the P.E. credit policy. The 2015–2016 edition states that club sports are no longer eligible for P.E. credit because “while Club Sports can meet a physical requirement for P.E. credit, it [sic] does not meet the education requirement needed to obtain this credit.” This is dumbfounding; as a player I have developed exponentially through my participation in the club sports program, as have all of my teammates. With the new requirement for all club sports teams to have a coach, the educational aspect of the club sports program will only be strengthened. It is common knowledge that club sports practice more frequently than a normal P.E. class and require a higher level of commitment, and for this reason I struggle to understand how club sports do not meet the educational requirement for P.E. credit.
Part of this struggle is due to the fact that there is no requirement outlined by the Athletics department as to what constitutes a satisfactory educational component of a P.E. class. In fact, delving further into the issue, I discovered that there were very few requirements for almost anything related to club sports. The 2014–2015 Club Sports Handbook states that “the criteria for receiving [P.E.] credit vary by sport,” but there is no written criteria for individual sports anywhere else within the handbook. The criteria are determined by John Maurizi, the Director of Campus Recreation, but based on my conversations with friends in other sports, the criteria seem to be very inconsistent and based on how much John likes the particular sport at the moment. The 2014–2015 Club Sports Handbook also states that in order to receive P.E. credit, “the team must have a coach that can verify the student’s participation consistent with time and activity requirements associated with physical education class.” This means that the only teams that were eligible to receive P.E. credit were those that had established the appropriate infrastructure to verify that the students receiving the credit had participated in the sport.
In the article written by The Stute, Maurizi claims to be “trying to raise the standards of physical education at Stevens.” However, the removal of P.E. credit eligibility from club sports will do exactly the opposite of that. Approximately 400 students participate in club sports; this means that there will be 400 more students looking to take “traditional” P.E. classes, which will put additional strain on the physical education system and reduce the amount of time that the instructor can spend with each individual student. This, in turn, will lead to a reduction in the quality of the class, which, ironically, was likely not as high quality as the club sports team was in the first place.
The real kicker? The students that satisfied all the requirements for P.E. credit through participation in a club sport during the 2014–2015 school year “will not be able to register for a P.E. credit as well,” according to the 2015–2016 Club Sports Handbook. Seeing as my club sports class still has no grade on the Student/Faculty Web Self Services page of myStevens, it seems like this will remain the policy. This is incredibly unfair to the students that participated in a club sport during this time under the presumption that they would be given P.E. credit due to their participation in the sport, as outlined in the 2014–2015 Club Sports Handbook.
Maurizi was also quoted saying that the policy may be “revert(ed) back” in the future. However, seeing that the concern with the educational requirement of club sports is being addressed now with the requirement of each club sport to have a coach, I see no reason for the removal of the policy in the first place. Additionally, the old P.E. credit policy for club sports was inconsistent at best; when P.E. credit returns to club sports, I would hope that it is with clear requirements for what qualifies as adequate participation in a club sport in order to obtain P.E. credit. Until this happens, the demotion of club sports such that they are no longer eligible to receive P.E. credit will only lower the quality of physical education at Stevens.
