Study concludes Men’s Basketball not the only sport at LU

Hugh Jass

According to a recent study conducted as a joint effort between The Lawrentian and the LU College Republicans, Lawrence University has a functional intercollegiate athletics department that includes a full range of fall, winter and spring sports in addition to the Men’s Basketball Team.
The inquiry was completed this February and examined the activities in Alexander Gymnasium, a lesser-known portion of the Conservatory of Music, as well as the grass meadows adjacent to the large limestone complex.
Lawrence President Jill Beck commented, “We implemented a long-term study on the feasibility of adding an athletic component to the Lawrence Conservatory of Music [. and] the Lawrence Arts College, and were surprised to find out that such a department already existed on our campus.”
She continued, “We have known for several years about the basketball team that Lawrentians have put together somewhere across the river, but we were delighted to discover that additional athletic teams have also formed in a variety of sports.”
According to the “two-year report on the feasibility of athletics at Lawrence University,” the university already has at least 20 teams in varying sports that compete in athletic events against other colleges in the area. These activities are as wide-ranging as tennis, athletics – including running, jumping and throwing – and “volley-ball.”
Lawrentians have reacted with mixed emotions to the news of a fully functional athletic department on their campus. Some students, including trombone performance/religious studies double major James Hall assert that as long as the new “sports” at LU don’t disrupt the musical – and to a lesser extent, academic – focus at the university, there’s no conflict of interest.
“I think it’s great that those students are taking an active role in the growth of campus-run programs at this college. It truly asserts the college as a liberal arts center for diverse learning – and running around” said Hall. “If nothing else, it’ll help our U.S. News & World Report rankings”
Other Lawrentians had differing opinions. When questioned about the news that Lawrence was host to several athletic teams, Christopher “Grizzle” Laumer said, “I don’t know about this ‘sports’ thing. I have a very serious Watershed Hydrology project running right now and I don’t want any ball-involving sport to disrupt it.”
Overall however, the campus response can best be characterized as “tied early in the third quarter.” Students seem to fall on both sides of the Sports vs. Asports debate, and more research “will certainly need to be conducted,” according to Beck.
“At this point we are putting together an exploratory committee on adding a discussion of the debate between pro-athletics and anti-athletics to the Freshman Studies curriculum. Until that is completed, we continue to wish our Men’s Basketball Team luck, as well as the rest of the Lawrence athletic teams that have cropped up over the past few years.