THE COINING OF THE STUDENT-ATHLETE: RECONCILING ATHLETICS AND ACADEMICS AT AMERICA’S TOP-TIER UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

Each year, nearly half a million college students carve out time from their studies and social lives to compete in varsity-level athletics. These “student-athlete” hybrids hold a dual status marked by inherent tensions, both with respect to competing role expectations and dual social membership. This research paper is a qualitative analysis of how two top-tier universities, Princeton and Stanford, approach athletics within their institution, and how tensions are experienced by the student-athletes on their football teams. The study finds evidence that differences between each school’s approach to athletics appear to influence social divides within the team and between athletes and non-athletes on campus. Further, athletes on both campuses experience significant role conflict and strain in trying to meet both athletic and academic expectations. To cope with this, they tend to cluster together and develop a form of social capital that helps them mitigate role strain. However, this clustering also creates social divides in the student-body, which may be compounded by structures of student sociability external to sports.