Expansion of community college athletic programs

Community College Enterprise, The, Fall 2007 by Byrd, Laura Ann, Williams, Mitchell R

A comparison of the perceptions of presidents and board chairs about intercollegiate athletics encouraging local students to continue their education showed no statistically significant difference. On the other hand, a comparison of presidents at institutions with and without intercollegiate athletics showed a statistically significant difference on the issue. Statistical significance was also found in the comparison of board chairs. The results of these analyses are presented in Tables 8 and 9.

Although local governance is a hallmark of community colleges in North Carolina, uniform statewide guidelines have been suggested for intercollegiate athletics. As indicated in Table 10, 69% of North Carolina community college presidents have a preference for the establishment of statewide guidelines regarding intercollegiate athletics in North Carolina community colleges. The mean score for all presidents is 3.63. Sixty-six percent of North Carolina community college board chairs agreed or strongly agreed to establishment of statewide guidelines regarding the initiation of intercollegiate athletics for community colleges. The mean score for board chairs is 3.40. There is no statistically significant difference between the responses of presidents and board of trustee chairs.

Discussion

More students are wisely selecting the community college as the entrance point to higher education because of affordability, accessibility, and academic rigor. At the same time, more student-athletes are choosing community colleges to further their educations and to develop their athletic skills (Powell, 2007). Community colleges across the nation are establishing or expanding intercollegiate athletics programs at a consistent pace, and the growth has lead to increased scrutiny of the programs (Hines, 2005). Scrutiny leads to questions about why and how athletic programs are established, continued, or terminated.

Cowen (2005) has said college presidents, in consultation with people on and off their campuses, must establish the overall direction and key policies that lead athletic programs. In the current study, presidents and board chairs agree that the current and future funding of community college intercollegiate athletics are in doubt, a situation which may create fundamental problems for community colleges. Initiating a program without secure funding could have serious implications, including students being encouraged to attend the community college to participate in a particular athletic program even though that program may be canceled because of lack of funds. Such a scenario would create negative publicity, hurt institutional integrity, and create a lack of public confidence in the college's ability to deliver non-athletic programming. There could also be problems related to overall community support of the college.

According to Williams and Pennington (2006), the budget process for community college athletics is not well understood by college leaders. Both presidents and board of trustee chairs indicate that athletics do not have a secure funding base today, and they both express general concern that sufficient funding may not be available for new community college athletic programs in the future. The current study, however, finds more presidents who express understanding of the athletics funding process. Furthermore, significantly more presidents from colleges with athletic teams claim understanding of the funding process compared to presidents from colleges without athletic teams. The current study shows significantly more board chairs from colleges with athletic programs expressing a greater understanding of the process than board chairs without intercollegiate athletic programs.