Column by John Morris, Staff writer

Heading into the third week of school I know more than a few people are already deep into the books.

College is by no means an easy task because there is so much going on in and out of class.

I was having a conversation with some friends talking about homework and jokingly they say, “Oh, you don’t have to worry about homework somebody will do it for you.”

My reply – “you are asleep.”

But in all reality that is a real assumption.

The idea is that athletes aren’t required to do homework like everyone else.

That’s crazy.

Sometimes this gives student-athletes a lack of credit that is greatly deserved.

There are millions of athletes, not just in college, who are committing ample amount of time to a sport. Missing class and still meeting the requirements of a regular student.

We’re not going to sit and make excuses because playing a sport in college is a choice as well as a privilege.

So, to an extent we know what we’re signing up for.

Athletes are using the sport to get an education, using the scholarship to pay for school.

They take pride in the time and effort they put in for both the classroom and sport.

Most of the time, Institutions have their student-athletes in a study hall program and tutoring services, which is what Murray State does.

In most cases these are mandatory at the coach’s discretion and is regulated by performance in school.

This will directly affect scholarships, whether an athlete has one or is trying to get one.

One example would be Morgan State.

Incoming freshmen and incoming transfers are required to participate in a comprehensive orientation and supervised study hall.

Student-athletes who have been assigned to study hall are required to attend all study hall sessions. To be exempt from study hall, a student-athlete must obtain a 3.0 GPA during the first semester of study hall.

Failure to comply with study hall regulations will result in a negative evaluation for scholarship continuation and/or athletic participation.

These are similar to the standards at Murray State.

Teams have certain days and times in which they must attend study hall and they must be there every time or suffer consequences at that coach’s discretion.

There have been cases in recent findings where the schools have let some athletes pass without consequence.

This does nothing but hurt the athlete, the program and the athletes to come.

Things like the Notre Dame scandal with paper submission did nothing but hurt the individuals involved and the program from progressing.

Basically, the players in this scandal had ample amounts of plagiarism or just didn’t do it themselves.

Another issue is from last year, when the University of North Carolina had 18 years of academic fraud behind them to keep players playing.

This was significant because former players spoke out-and the truth hurt.

For 18 years, thousands of students at the prestigious University of North Carolina took fake “paper classes,” and advisers funneled athletes into the program to keep them eligible.

Not every university is perfect nor is every student.

Things like this happen and it will be a while before anything can be near perfect.

But most of the world that has participated in some athletics should know and understand the work put in by student – athletes and no one should assume that any part of that is a walk in the park.