Sophomore thrower Jaimee Phegley had already picked her room assignments and been nominated for president of Lincoln Hall when she was informed that she would have to move to Taylor Hall for the 2007-2008 academic year.

In order for Eastern to comply with an NCAA regulation that calls for residence halls to be composed of at least 51% non-athletes, the track and cross country teams as well as a few other athletes were asked to move from Lincoln and Douglas Halls out to Taylor Hall.

Effective with last year’s incoming freshmen, student athletes were required to live on campus for their freshmen and sophomore years as opposed to just their freshman year.

This regulation doubled the amount of athletes placed in Lincoln and Douglas and forced Eastern to take action in order to comply with the NCAA ruling.

Track and Field was one of the main sports chosen for the move because their team had the most people and would help to even out the numbers.

I realize that Taylor is not a ridiculous walk to the Rec Center or the field house and I am not going to argue that these athletes have to walk an extra 100 meters to practice.

The extra 3-minute walk these athletes are going to have to make is not the argument here.

Head track and field coach Tom Akers said, “If our track athletes can’t make that extra walk then we are going to have serious trouble as a track program.”

The argument is that by trying to comply with the NCAA rules, to treat athletes the same as non-athletes, they are instead treating the athletes unfairly by forcing them to live somewhere else.

Athletes like Phegley, or fellow sophomore thrower Kandace Arnold who had already acquired leadership positions in their hall, are not being treated fairly because they no longer have the ability to fulfill jobs they had earned.

Other athletes that may not have had leadership roles did at least develop some relationships with other athletes in the Lincoln, Stevenson, Douglas complex and are now isolated from them.

The regulation was put in place when larger Division I schools started making their athletic residence halls the elite halls on campus.

That is not the case here at Eastern, with Lincoln and Douglas being some of the oldest halls, it is not like the athletes are getting preferential treatment by staying in these buildings.

The only advantage of putting athletes in Lincoln and Douglas is the proximity of those buildings to their practice facilities, not to give them added luxuries that non-athletes don’t get.

Staying in Lincoln or Douglas was not about luxuries and fancy things for these athletes. It was about being close to their practice facilities, coaches, and other athletes on campus.

It wasn’t meant to exclude non-athletes but to keep athletes included with easier and

efficient opportunities to train.