The Rev. Bernard Knoth’s resignation as president of Loyola has caused the university grief and political hardship, but the athletic program has clearly benefited from his departure.

Interim University President the Rev. William Byron, S.J., allocated six athletic scholarships for the Fall of 2004.While this decision was made quickly and without any faculty consultation, it was within Byron’s power to do so.While several faculty members are displeased and even enraged at Byron’s actions, the fact of the matter remains that athletes deserve this help.

Athletes at this university have been overlooked as simply jocks who also go to class sometimes. Few people realize the sacrifices that everyone on an athletic team endures during the season, such as early morning practices and long trips for away games.

Giving athletic scholarships is no different than giving music scholarships or any other scholarships for a certain area of study. Athletes put the same amount of time and effort into their sports as any other student puts into their extracurricular activities.

Athletes also provide the school with visual representation both at home and on the road.

While college is not a minor league for sports and some argue scholarships will result in it serving that purpose, our program does not and will never serve that purpose. Some argue that athletic scholarships will degrade the academic integrity of the university, but nothing can be further from the truth.

Since the reinstitution of athletics in 1991, student athletes have averaged a 3.0 or greater GPA in over 75 percent of their semesters. A 3.0 is required of all Dean’s scholarship holders, which is the second highest general scholarship the university gives out.

The fear of the faculty would be understandable if there was no GPA requirement or no focus on academics, but that is not the case.

These scholarships are simply helping out students who are part of the university. While the president should have consulted the faculty and the details of this scholarship still need to be fully developed, this is a step in the right direction for the sports program.