GET A LODHA THIS: Joey's Cheek Not Enough to Win Over Byerly Hall

It was the shock heard around the world.

Joey Cheek—Olympic medalist, Good Samaritan, and all-around good guy—how did he not get into Harvard?

Cheek was heartbroken. Alumni were disappointed. And as the 2006 Winter Games in Turin came to a close with the speedskater bearing the United States flag, even NBC announcer Bob Costas tossed in his two cents, staring into the camera and calling for Harvard Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 to review Cheek’s application.

Moreover, rumor has it that following his rejection, Cheek is now being courted by “big-name” universities such as Princeton, Georgetown, and that other institution down in New Haven—the one with the bad football team.

So why did Cheek get left outside the gates of the Ivory Tower?

Isn’t an intriguing, sociable, and generous Olympian just the kind of student Byerly Hall looks for?

For the purposes of analysis, let’s break down Cheek into three component parts: his fame and intrigue, his kindness and generosity, and his academic and extracurricular value to the Harvard community.

When it comes to fame, the speedskater ranks among the top celebrities of the season.

Picking up gold and silver in Italy, Cheek made headlines as the first American to win two medals at the 2006 Winter Games and was honored as the flag-bearer in the closing ceremonies.

In April, he will head to Zambia as the public face for the “Right to Play” group, an organization that uses sports to promote a healthier lifestyle for children in poor countries.

So, should his renown earn him a spot in the Class of 2010?

Should Tom Cruise get an EZ-Pass to Ec10? Is Shaq really the right person to work with on a Positive Psych project? And should George W. Bush really be admitted to an Ivy League institution?

Well, maybe the Fates can’t answer that last one, but Mr. Scientologist and Miami’s Most Wanted probably aren’t the typical prospective students that the admissions office is looking at.

While “interesting people” are what Harvard’s admissions office yearns for, that is not and cannot be the end-all.

What about the speedskater’s kindness and generosity?

Now this is where it really gets blurry. Cheek was the Mother Theresa of the 2006 Olympics, taking his $40,000 of bonuses from his two medals and donating it to Right to Play.

And as former U.S. skating champion Dan Jansen put it, “This guy doesn’t have a lot of money. He’s not wealthy, and he gave $40,000—that is a lot of money for a speedskater.”

Furthermore, from most accounts, Cheek is a humble and down-to-earth man who is a pleasure to be around.

So, should his charitable nature get him into Harvard?

Somewhere, there are gleaming schemers viciously nodding their heads with barely faded memories of their parents’ fat checkbooks. For this reason, this has to be a big no-no.

Granted, Cheek is not making his donation to Larry Summers’ office, and his gift came after he had already heard back from Byerly Hall.

Nevertheless—and sad as it may be—a noble heart does not a Harvard man make.

For all the generosity a prospective student may have, there has to be something above and beyond this desirable yet insufficient quality.

Finally, we come to the speedskater’s potential value to the Harvard community.

Here, we get into the heart of the matter. A person’s potential value to the community must figure as the most important factor every time another Common App is reviewed.

The question then is this: How does the admissions process get warped when the readers are suddenly dealing with an Olympic athlete?

“We always look for talent, Olympic-quality and otherwise,” wrote Director of Undergraduate Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis in an email. “And we are interested in other kinds of distinction, such a record of support for good works of all kinds.”

Of course, this makes sense. Harvard hasn’t gained its reputation by admitting untalented and heartless souls.

Nevertheless, Lewis added:

“When it comes to evaluating applicants to the College of course a fundamental consideration is the academic match, as indicated by academic achievement in the past.”

Ay, there’s the rub.

For all of Cheek’s fame, intrigue, and generosity, the decision to admit him to the confines of Harvard Yard must first and foremost be an academic one.

Yes, Cheek is probably an intelligent and conscientious human being.

But in a place where high school superstars come to fade, it is very likely that an individual who has not been in school for almost a decade might well fail to keep up.

And here, someone will insert the counterargument that Harvard does make exceptions for some of its student-athletes.

Point taken—but only with a grain of salt.

Firstly, student-athletes sporting Crimson have, just like their classmates, weathered their share of Advanced Placement tests and SAT tests in the recent past.

And, for the most part, they have fared well.

Harvard isn’t admitting athletes with 2.0 high school grade-point averages.

But more importantly, these student-athletes continue to be athletes once they get to Harvard, thereby contributing to their community.

There is no Crimson speedskating team. For all of Cheek’s talent, he would be virtually useless to the athletic department.

All of this is not to say that Joey Cheek is not an intelligent, sociable, and generous human being whom his potential classmates would find very intriguing.

But, as so many who have come before him, he just doesn’t make the Harvard College cut.

Hopefully that won’t prevent him from giving a guest lecture or two in Cambridge someday.

In the meantime, Mr. Cheek, I do have a few words of advice: don’t end up in New Haven.

“Yale” and “athlete” just don’t belong in the same sentence.

—Staff writer Karan Lodha can be reached at klodha@fas.harvard.edu.