University of virginia

Methodology

The schools not only differ between the three types but also in the NCAA divisions to which they belong. In each category there are two, Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) football conference schools and two-Division III with football conference. FBS schools must offer at least sixteen sports, are able to offer scholarships for athletic performance, and do not include a playoff for the football national champion.²⁰ The majority, sixty-six percent, of schools in the FBS are public institutions while thirty-four percent are private. Division III with football schools (DIII) must have ten sports, equally divided between men and women. DIII schools are unable to offer scholarships based on athletic performance. Eighty percent of the schools in DIII are private institutions.

Once the schools were selected, profiles were created for each institution. The profiles enable trends for each category of school to be seen and to show major differences and similarities. All the schools have a significant number of students living on campus, which means that in some way the school controls the social behavior of its students. This high-on-campus-residence is a critical observation because for those religious-affiliated schools who do match the values of the representative faiths, the students’ experiences in college could be significantly different from those of students who are not attending a religious-affiliated school. These experiences could affect the athletic department because the pool of athletes willing to be held to strict moral codes may be reduced. Residential life is a key area to examine because students’ access to outside influences from campus life can affect how much the student population uses sports for entertainment. University websites were examined for their student rights and responsibilities handbooks to see if and how the college tries to control social behaviors.

The other step in identifying these schools is determining if the self-labeled religious schools actually meet the criteria of being a religious school. As the United States has become a more secularized, many religious-affiliated schools have moved towards focusing on more secularized values to compete with secular schools. Looking closely at the four selected schools to see if they are truly religious will help differentiate between secular and religious schools in terms of religion.

There are two types of religious schools those that are critical mass schools and those who are secularized. Critical mass schools are those at which the population of students and faculty is expected to live and learn in the traditions of the religion. These schools require that students believe in the religious doctrine, and live their lives in accordance with the religious faith. To stray from this path could mean expulsion from the school, including athletes. Secularized religious universities retain some religious identity but try to match their secular private and public counterpoints to attract students. There are no requirements placed upon the faculty or students to participate in worship, and there are not as many religiously-inspired behavior rules.

Understanding the distinction between the two school types highlights that religious schools are different from secular schools in the terms of acceptable social behavior and that code of conduct influences the type of students seeking admission to these schools. If students are unwilling or unable to accept the social behavior influences then they cannot find an identity attached to the school. The religion is the most important aspect of the school, everything else is designed to support the religious mission.

After determining the differences between the three types of schools the discussion about the relationship between the university and its athletics program begins. Whereas this point, the discussion about sports as a replacement religion on secular campuses commences. The first data point will be the individual school websites with the addition of the school’s athletic page. I reviewed the two to see where there are similarities in design and content. I also bring in academic research from books and journals showing both positive and negative reactions to the placement of athletics inside an academic institution. I will then talk about how sports function as a religion for secular schools.

Next, athletic programs are reviewed to see if the department has been involved in scandals. The scandals are a critical part of the discussion because of the way that the university’s leadership handles the situation. If the university’s leadership knew about the wrong doing and did nothing about it, then the athletic program may be more important than other aspects of university life. If religious universities have not been involved in scandals as compared to secular schools then it could imply that the religious faiths are influencing the decisions of the athletic staffs.