A holiday cheap shot

All I can figure is that Michigan may be the fastest team in the Big 10:

… Harbaugh’s comments have brought to light two academic issues related to football:

First, that 82 percent of scholarship football players who have declared a major are pursuing a degree in general studies, compared to just 3 percent of the overall student body.

Second, that in the last four graduating classes measured by the NCAA, just 38 percent of African-American football players have received their Michigan degrees.

These are significant numbers.

When more than four-fifths of your football team is clustered in one academic area, you’ve not only created a situation ripe for academic fraud, you’ve set up the perception that general studies is the least-demanding route to a Michigan degree.

Over time, that perception will make a general studies degree significantly less valuable, if not worthless.

And if six out of every 10 African-American recruits are – for whatever reason – not graduating, that hurts the kids involved, future recruiting and the university’s overall reputation…

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