Athletic Department Survey Announced

Jan. 21, 2004

Clemson’s Athletic Council has released the findings of a survey on the perceptions of the Athletic Department. The findings were announced Wednesday by Richard Blackbourn, Chairman of the Athletic Council. According to Blackbourn, “Such information assists the Athletic Council in recommending policy on intercollegiate athletics to the Director of Athletics and the President.”

In the latter part of the spring semester 2001, the Campus Relations Committee of the Athletic Council, through President Jim Barker’s Office, distributed a survey to students and employees of Clemson University in an effort to determine the perceptions of the athletic department by the University community.

“We were very pleased to see the results of the survey,” said Bill D’Andrea, senior associate athletic director. “Overall, faculty, staff and students believe that the athletics program contributes positively to the university’s image and is concerned about the education and welfare of student-athletes. We also see areas where we need to improve, such as doing more to promote attendance at non-revenue and women’s sports.”

A total of 1904 individuals responded, with approximately 47 percent from undergraduate students, 52 percent faculty, staff and graduate students and the remaining one percent from administration. The response rate was approximately six percent for the undergraduate students, five percent for the graduate students, 23 percent for the faculty and 18 percent for the staff.

Key findings of the survey include:

The majority of respondents are satisfied with the manner inwhich the athletic department is managed, and believe that theuniversity image is enhanced by athletics; The Athletics programinfluences students’ decisions to attend Clemson, but has a muchsmaller effect on employees’ decisions; The majority of respondentsare aware of the Vickery Hall tutorial program, and believe theAthletic Department is concerned about the quality of education,but they also think student-athletes are perceived to havedifferent academic expectations; The most popular men’s sports arefootball, baseball, basketball and soccer, with basketball beingthe more popular women’s sport.

The entire survey, complete with graphics, is available on the Athletic Council website.