Stanford discontinuing 'easy' class list for athletes

Taking easy classes is nothing new for college athletes. But it is surprising a school with the academic standing of Stanford -- the school athletics website lists 140 Academic All-Americans through March 22, 2010 -- would go so far as distribute a list identifying those classes.

The school, however, made such a list -- titled "Courses of Interest" -- available to athletes. Among the dozens of selections included Beginning Improvising and Social Dances of North America III.

The list, however, is going away. School officials discontinued it last week after reporters began asking questions about it.

The decision is sure to upset those who used it. The classes on the list, which has existed since at least 2001, were "always chock-full of athletes and very easy A's," Kira Maker, a soccer player who used the list her freshman year, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Stanford contends the list was designed to accommodate the demanding schedules of athletes and have disputed that it was made up of easy courses.

"An objective evaluation of the courses included on the list reveals several courses that most students would consider to be academically rigorous," Austin Lee, director of academic services at the Athletic Academic Resource Center, told the Chronicle.

Distributed by the Athletic Academic Resource Center, the document was often criticized by faculty for being advantageous to athletes -- at least by those faculty who knew it existed.

Sociology professor Cecilia Ridgeway learned her Interpersonal Relations class was on the winter quarter list. Ridgeway said she had heard about the document in years past and talked to the athletics department about removing her class from the list. She said department staff told her there was no list.

But the athletes certainly knew about it.

"Literally, when you walk into the (resource center) right next to the door, it's right there," Ryan Sudeck, a junior on the crew team, told the Chronicle.

"I never used it before this year," he said. "But this quarter it was like, 'Oh, I need an easy class to boost my GPA.' "

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