Faculty Senate President Linda Eads said she was “pleased” by the administration’s response to a former athletic no-drop policy for student athletes, saying it reinforced the idea that academics—not athletics—was the main focus of the university.

Eads spoke about the no-drop policy toward the beginning of the Wednesday’s Faculty Senate meeting. Her statements come after Provost Paul Ludden sent out a memo on Oct. 28, which stated that all students must be allowed to drop classes at will.

The Daily Campus reported Wednesday on a past athletic policy where student athletes were not allowed to drop classes without the approval of athletic director Steve Orsini. That story cited a 2009 Faculty Senate report, which stated that there was “controversy” in the faculty over the policy.

“On the one hand the new policy reinforces our desire to see fewer drops in the university,” Athletic Policies Committee Chair Dan Orlovsky wrote. “On the other it treats student athletes differently than we treat the larger student body- a situation that we oppose.”

The no-drop policy has since been cancelled. Athletic spokesman Brad Sutton told The Daily Campusthat, “Athletics will follow the provost’s directive.”

Eads told Senate that Athletic Director Steve Orsini “never had the authority” to prohibit student athletes from dropping a class and that it wasn’t the athletic department’s call.

The drop policy set by the university governs every student, Eads said.

Eads said the provost, in conjunction with President R. Gerald Turner, have made it clear that “no student group is treated differently.”