Amaker’s Recruiting Has Not Affected Harvard’s Standards

To the editors:



Re: “Are Jocks Necessary?” column, March 7



Lucy Caldwell is mistaken to imply that rigorous academic standards and successful athletic teams are mutually exclusive. In the same March 2 New York Times article cited by Caldwell, Athletic Director Robert L. Scalise says he expects Harvard to maintain the best Academic Index in Ivy League men’s basketball despite Tommy Amaker’s new recruits. Harvard’s mission is best served by striving for excellence while still satisfying the constraint that its athletic teams have the best academic credentials within their sport. Ivy rules additionally ensure that the mean Academic Index of Harvard’s athletic program will be within one standard deviation of the student body and that all student-athletes will meet a minimum Academic Index standard. Harvard athletic programs such as women’s hockey, which has achieved No. 1 national rankings in five of its last 10 seasons despite the Academic Index constraints, have served as far better representatives of the University than any form of mediocrity.



DAVID R. DE REMER ’03

New York, N.Y.

March 7, 2008



David R. De Remer '03 is a former sports chair of The Harvard Crimson.