First of all, thank you to the SMU administration for taking yet another step in committing to a successful football program.
After hiring June Jones over the summer, SMU’s second step was creating a major that is slightly more “athlete friendly,” which will begin enrolling students in the fall 2009 semester. The sports-fitness management and promotion major will become the largest undergraduate major in the School of Education.
On first glance it may look like a cop-out.
Sure, a sports-related major is probably easier than mechanical engineering or business finance, but that only hurts those who decide to take the major.
University admission requirements will not change. SAT and ACT score requirements as well as high school grades will still have to be as good as they have always been. But the new major may be a way for athletes to major in something that is of more interest to them.
Everyone choosing the new major will still have to take the required general education courses as well as every other requirement placed on every other student at SMU. The only change is that a class in sports-fitness management and promotion will differ from a political science class.
At the end of the day, that does not affect anyone but the people taking the new major. It will not decrease the value of a diploma that reads “Southern Methodist University”; it will just have a different major written underneath it.
The Cox School of Business will continue to top the charts as one of the best business schools in the country; the School of Engineering will continue to produce the same quality of graduates as it always has and so on. People come to SMU for the education, and by choosing what could be an easier major, that only hurts the individual.
Dean of the School of Education David Chard pointed out that the major will draw people from outside the athletic realm as well as student-athletes. Business majors could double-major if they wish to become a sports agent or open their own fitness center.
Until the curriculum is decided, it is unfair to criticize the new major for being too easy. For now it just needs to be seen as something that will bring SMU athletics to the same playing field as other universities. Now that SMU can offer this kind of curriculum, there may be more athletes coming to Dallas, and that is a step in the right direction.
