Michigan under the Academic scrutity eye now...Big10 Academic affects recruiting?!?

TerryP · Mar 17, 2008

John Hagen was, as he has been for decades, close to some of the most recognized athletes at Michigan. University records obtained by The News show that the veteran psychology professor has taught at least 294 independent studies from the fall of 2004 to the fall of 2007, and 85 percent of those courses, 251, were with athletes.

Michigan officials said Hagen taught additional independent studies in that period, however, they refused to disclose the number of athletes who were part of that group.

During most of that period since 2004, Hagen had a .25 teaching appointment, meaning one quarter of his time was supposed to be spent in the classroom.

Independent studies traditionally are one-on-one courses arranged between a professor and a student to cover subject matter that isn't available as a university course. In some cases, they involve small groups of students.

Since August 2006, university officials have twice examined whether Hagen's courses meet Michigan's academic standards. They call his independent studies an example of a nationally respected researcher working with undergraduates.

"This is the kind of faculty experience we aspire to provide for all of our students," said Terry McDonald, dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

When The News dug further, however, speaking to athletes and former athletic department employees as part of a seven-month investigation that included interviewing 87 people and reviewing more than 3,500 pages of internal documents, a different picture emerged:

Key player
John HagenJohn Hagen
Psychology professor
• Why he's important: Taught at least 251 independent study classes to Michigan varsity athletes from fall 2004 to fall 2007, with much of the course content directed at improving students' learning skills.
• What he's saying: "I view (learning disabilities) and being a student athlete both as potential risk categories. Students with learning disabilities just have to spend more time at whatever they're doing. Student athletes often have less time to spend than they would like to be able to spend."
• Michigan athletes described being steered to Hagen's courses by their athletic department academic counselors and, in some cases, earning three or four credits for meeting with Hagen for as little as 15 minutes every two weeks.

• Three former athletic department employees said Hagen's independent study courses are sometimes used by academic support staff to boost the grade point averages of athletes in danger of becoming academically ineligible to compete in sports.
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buckeye78 · Mar 18, 2008

Re: Michigan under the Academic scrutity eye now...Big10 Academic affects recruiting?

TerryP said: ↑

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sad to see from a school that non athletically related is one of the best in the country among major universities. Although good ammunition for some of the diatribes i get sick of hearing from some arrogant UM fans who like to brag about that. About all they've had to brag about in the last 0-4 years :lol:

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Michigan under the Academic scrutity eye now...Big10 Academic affects recruiting?!?

TerryP Founding Member

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