WHO'S THE OUTCAST NOW?
The line drawn between athletes and non-athletes at Seton Hill becomes finer
It’s lunchtime at Seton Hill University
(SHU) and a surge of students floods the dining hall. The tables boasting
athletes stand out in bright red, and now, as SHU gears up for its NCAA
Division II winter athletic season, it’s clear that the NCAA isn’t the only one
assigning divisions on campus.
The most common division at SHU is
arguably between athletes and regular students.
“I thought people would try to make
friends with everybody, then separate into their own groups or teams,” said
Chris Lacava, a freshman on the track team.
Lacava said he wasn’t surprised by
this behavior at SHU because it reflects the social structure of his high
school—especially in the cafeteria.
“I see […] people frantically
texting their friends to see if they will go eat with them,” said sophomore
golf player Giannina Gonzalez. “They always seem to want to be with friends,
not join a table and make some [new] friends.”
The issue, sophomore DJ Beckage says, may be the
way that athletes socialize among their teammates.
“[…] There is such an emphasis on the team
dynamic, athletes may not be as willing to hang out with non-athletes,” said Beckage,
a commuter and veteran of the military. “With that said, I think non-athletes
become intimidated of this same dynamic and therefore do not attempt to make
friends with someone in the group.”
Some athletes, like senior Anthony
DiPerna, admit to involvement in the athlete vs. non-athlete state of mind.
“I'm not really friends
with many people that aren't athletes,” said DiPerna, a lacrosse player for the
entirety of his studies at SHU. “There absolutely is segregation.”
The division between athletes and regular
students is widening further as a result of the Internet.
“Celebrate #narpweek,” tweeted junior
lacrosse player Jon Macurak on the social networking website, Twitter. “NARP”,
a condescending acronym for non-athletic regular person was popularized by
Urban Dictionary, a slang dictionary website, and is commonly thrown around by
athletes.
“Group projects… My group always hates me because I
don't have any free time to meet up,” tweeted StudntAthlPrbz, a Twitter account
dedicated to the problems that student athletes face—many of which attempt to
foster contempt for regular students who don’t encounter similar situations.
“The stuff they post
is so funny and true,” said Anthony Peluso, a freshman on the track team. “It
definitely makes me jealous of people who don’t play a sport.”
Because of websites like Urban Dictionary
and Twitter accounts like StudntAthlPrbz, athletes are being influenced to look
down on regular students, polluting SHU’s social atmosphere with ethnocentrism.
“Athletes think they’re better than people
who aren’t, for sure,” said junior Dominic Camasso, captain of the cross
country team. “Just like some theatre people might think they’re better than
athletes. It’s a trade-off.”
As the captain of the cross country team,
it is Camasso’s responsibility to introduce the freshman runners to SHU life.
“I haven’t really seen them hang out with
people outside the team, even after how many months,” Camasso said. “But that’s
just normal for us… athletes are obligated to each other.”
However, not all SHU students stick to one
group of friends.
Matthew Takacs, a junior, says that he has
a mix of friends—both athletes and non-athletes. “It’s easier to be friends
with more people when you’re not forced to bond with the same ones all the
time,” he said.
Unfortunately, athletes are also bonded to
stereotypes, expanding the invisible rift at SHU further.
“I sense that rift-size varies depending
on the sport. For instance, football strikes me as higher profile,” said David
Von Schlichten, an adjunct professor of religious studies. “In that case, the
rift is greater, in part because people tend to have stereotypes about football
players.”
Von Schlichten says that being an adjunct
professor limits how much he sees of the separation between athletes and
non-athletes; however, he has noticed some stereotypes come into play.
“I just heard a professor say that five
students are failing his class, and they are all football players. The
professor seemed to be assuming that they were all failing because of their
involvement with football,” Von Schlichten said. “Such an assumption struck me
as unfair and perhaps rooted in prejudice against athletes.”
Although academic prejudice may be a
player in the separation of athletes and non-athletes, most colleges are prided
on the excellence of their athletic programs.
“Athletics are hyped up at every college,”
said Camasso. “Athletes have special privileges and they’re treated like
they’re different.”
However, is the separation between
athletes and non-athletes always a bad thing?
“It seems [like a bad thing], but that is
kind of a good sign,” said Giannina Gonzalez. “It means teams are very close.”
The dichotomy between athletes and
non-athletes is present, but that doesn’t mean that SHU students are bound by
it. SHU provides a plethora of activities for regular students and athletes
alike to make friends and create lasting memories—all it takes is the first
step past the invisible boundary that separates athletes from everyone else.
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