Decisions about fall varsity sports are being made at the Ivy League and conference levels, and will be announced over the summer, "well in advance of when we bring athletes back to be practicing for the fall season," Helble said.Also . . .
Helble discussed the Office of Admissions' announcement today making standardized test optional for applicants to the Class of 2025. The decision comes follows an advisory from the College Board, which administers SAT tests, warning of the challenges of providing safe testing facilities to students in densely populated cities.
"To clarify, optional truly means optional," Helble said. "We do not want anyone to engage in a guessing game as to whether it will be better to submit a test score. We will not report test scores for the matriculating class of 2025."Bloomberg took note of the college's decision regarding standardized testing in a story headlined, Dartmouth Scraps SAT, ACT Admission Requirement for One Year. From the story (LINK):
Dartmouth’s change is effective immediately, according to an email from the Hanover, New Hampshire-based school on Wednesday. Separately, Columbia University said that such tests will be optional for first-year applicants to Columbia College and the engineering school for the fall of 2021.And:
Ivy League member Cornell University also made the test optional for current high school juniors.Green Alert Take: The decision to make the tests optional will likely be welcomed by by high school juniors for whom simply arranging to take the tests has been difficult as well as those who struggle with standardized tests. You have to wonder how this impacts recruiting and the Academic Index.
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While the provost said no decision has been made regarding fall athletics at Dartmouth and in the Ivy League, the Colonial Athletic Association model has adopted an approach other leagues may consider. The conference website has a story under the headline, CAA Adopts "extreme Flexibility Model" For Olympic Sports Scheduling In 2020-21 that includes the following regarding what some call "non-revenue" sports (LINK):In response to the multitude of challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Colonial Athletic Association has adopted an innovative scheduling concept for Olympic team sports during the 2020-21 season.
The Extreme Flexibility Model (EFM) is designed to provide institutions with the opportunity to maximize cost savings relative to expenses associated with regular-season travel, while also providing student-athletes and coaches with the safest possible options when traveling to away contests.
Under the model, each CAA institution has committed to play at least the minimum number of contests per sport to meet NCAA sport sponsorship requirements, and has the option of scheduling additional games up to the NCAA maximum if they so choose. While it is expected that in many instances conference institutions will compete against other league members, it will not be required that an institution play any CAA contests. However, CAA institutions in the same region would have the ability to play multiple games against each other.
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Statements from Ivy League coaches, administrators and some athletes regarding race and today's headlines have been compiled HERE.
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Sad news about the passing of 1973 Dartmouth football captain Herb Hopkins after a battle with Parkinson's. Hopkins, a two-year starter and member of three Ivy League championship teams, was a hard-working, 6-foot-1, 230-pound guard from Southampton, Pa. This from his life story will surely bring a smile to the faces of those who knew and will miss him:He eventually landed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he somehow managed to join the University of Michigan’s rugby team, despite not even being a student there. Because apparently the physical toll of playing for one rugby team just wasn’t enough for a ringer like Herb, he also played for the elite rugby team called the Church Street Barbarians. Deciding Michigan bar fights weren’t risky enough, he then headed for Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska where he hung out with prospectors, became a boxing champ, and worked as the general manager of a commercial diving company.Read more HERE.
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EXTRA POINTWe are going to see The Call of the Wild tonight at the drive-in theater in a neighboring community and while I am familiar with the story I have no idea whether the movie is any good and what reviewers have said. Doesn't matter. It could be terrible and it will still feel refreshing to get out and do something normal. That said, we'll probably not be hitting the refreshment stand, and instead of sitting on a blanket in front of the car as we often do, we'll be inside it. Trust me, I'm not complaining.
