Viewpoint: It's time to free Burk

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Kevin Burk wants a few things pointed out first. He feels that he and his son, redshirt sophomore wrestler Duke Burk have been treated with nothing but class by Northern Illinois University, NIU wrestling coach Dave Grant, and the NIU academic support for athletes. They've been treated fairly, love NIU and all its done and don't feel like they are asking for any special favors. But the Burks are concerned about life after wrestling. That's why a statement written by Kevin Burk headlined ‘Northern Illinois University Wrestler Held Hostage' appeared on an Internet message board on Saturday. When college is through, Duke Burk, who declined comment on the situation through his father, wants to become a teacher and a coach. Northern Illinois' education program is one of the crown jewels of the university and one of the best programs in the country. It's one of the many reasons Duke Burk wanted to come to DeKalb. The problem is that as of right now, Burk won't be able to get into NIU's education program. His GPA, while solid and good enough to get into most educational programs at other colleges, isn't good enough. Kevin Burk wrote that the GPA standard for admittance has been raised this year from 2.75 to 2.94 because of a high number of qualified applicants. “With this in mind, Duke and I met with Dr. (Jerome) Bowers (Program Director) and Kate Maley (Program Advisor),” Burk wrote. “Both were professional, friendly, helpful, and answered our questions honestly. They told us that due to the competitiveness of the program that even if Duke earned a 2.75 GPA, his chances of getting in would be about 50 (percent). For Duke to achieve a 2.75 GPA, it would take him getting 2 A's and no C's in future classes. Based on the application process, the soonest possible entry date for Duke would be the spring of 2009. The program takes at least 2 years to complete, so even if selected, Duke would be in school a minimum of 6 1/2 years. That is the best possible s cenario.” On top of that, Burk said they received a letter in February that his son, despite never failing a class, will have to take summer school because he hasn't taken enough hours. “(Grant and academic support) should have known this was occurring,” Kevin Burk said. With that information, Kevin Burk said his son went to Grant to ask him to release him from his scholarship so he could pursue other schools. Kevin Burk said Grant, who did not return repeated phone calls from the Daily Chronicle on Saturday, told Duke Burk a release wasn't possible. Assistant media relations director for wrestling, Russell Houghtaling, said Grant, Burk and members academic support would meet this week to discuss options for Burk. But Burk has already been burned once in that he'll have to take summer school and didn't find out until February. According to his dad, he has already been denied in his request for a release from his scholarship. In my view he doesn't have a reason to trust that he's getting the best advice. Despite that, Kevin Burk said his son has made a commitment to NIU. “If he's not released, he'll stay at NIU to honor his contract,” Burk said. Burk qualified for the NCAA Championships twice and has two seasons of eligibility left. He's a key member of the team for the next two seasons and can win a lot of matches. My question is this, at what point does athletics trump academics? The NCAA, as well as most universities, shove down our throats that college athletes are student-athletes. Most of them are going pro in something other than sports. We get it. But when an athlete, and a successful one that's brought good publicity to the university in this case, decides that academics are more important and his best option is to leave one school for another in order to accomplish that goal, his concerns are seemingly pushed aside. If the facts presented by Kevin Burk are all true, it's immature and selfish to not release Duke Burk from his scholarship and allow him to pursue his degree elsewhere. Free Duke. Sports reporter John Sahly can be reached at jsahly@daily-chronicle.com.