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A famous topic of discussion at Lewis & Clark (as well as many other colleges) is the “hipster-athlete divide,” or the informal social separation between people who play varsity sports and those who don’t. While there are no tangible reasons for such an estrangement between students of the same college, its manifestations are very real and sometimes very explicit. As a former athlete who lived with hipsters during his NCAA career, I have experienced the effects of this separation firsthand in numerous social situations, and I’ve tried to divulge the sentiments of both sides in hopes of discovering the cause of our D3 division (between those who do and those who don’t know what D3 means).
The divide starts with achievement-based status, meaning people either decide to play a sport and thusly spend time with their team (which builds social connections and earns the status of “athlete”), or simply decide not to play a sport and spend time with people in their hall (the achievement comes from mainly hanging out with non-athletes). Because athletes have a rigorous schedule of practice, participating in sports makes it difficult to spend time with people who don’t share the same schedule (or at least time commitment), and thusly the group awareness becomes incredibly high. Once the social connections are established, the separation is perpetuated solely through ascription and has little to do with that person’s involvement in sports. The labels provide a clear boundary for social interactions with the athlete label either based in their specific sport (e.g. “football players” or “tennis people”) or just generally (e.g. “damn athletes”), and the hipster label being very simple (e.g. “damn hipsters”).
Rarely do people venture outside of their social label, mainly because they have already established a social group and don’t feel the need to expand, but these endogamous interactions are solidified due to the perceived stigma of the other (hipster-generated stigma of athletes and athlete-generated stigma of NARP’s, or Non-Athletic Regular Person/People). Because the two groups have very limited interactions, whatever preconceptions one side has about the other are not easily dispelled and thusly become internalized by the group as a whole, meaning the groups also derive their power/identity from not being the other; just as athletes pride themselves on a rigorous workout/sport-oriented schedule, hipsters pride themselves on being free of such a schedule.
I experienced this endogamy first-hand when I was sitting at a table of my hipster friends and said hi to a passing athlete, to which my friends responded by asking, “You’re friends with them?” I could tell that the only source of negativity was from the conflict between statuses of “athlete” versus “non-athlete,” despite having me as a mutual friend. These kind of remarks only serve to solidate the separation between the two groups, and while the groups seem to self-impose the segregation we see on campus and in school activities, the divide results in a pluralistic integration of the LC community. Instead of assimilating into an amorphous amalgamation of the two groups, the hipsters and athletes are able to form a strong identity in opposition to (but not in conflict with) each other, and for the most part can exist in the same space without any conflict. Though they might have their own specific gatherings, hipsters and athletes can come together and enjoy school events as a collective of distinct groups, but still a collective of Pios.
Image sources (left to right):
http://www.josecolmentersdesigns.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Bye-Bye-hipster.jpg
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/131205061402-01-sports-poy-restricted-horizontal-large-gallery.jpg
Interesting topic, I hadn't thought about this before. In my mind the distinction between hipsters and athletes isn't as sharp a dichotomy as you've presented it to be - I know people who fit into both categories, as well as non-athletes who probably wouldn't consider themselves hipsters or be perceived as such. However, I do think part of the social division may stem from perception of academic ability or commitment. While there is a wide range of academic attitudes and aptitudes in both of the groups you've identified, I think athletes get a bad rep from non-athletes who think their athletic success comes at the expense of academics. I don't think this is accurate, but this opinion may result in divisions in the classroom that carry over to social life and contribute to the divide you've identified.
ReplyDeleteThis division is something that I have identified and witnessed here at Lewis & Clark. However, I have a few points that I'd like to add. It is true that there are very time intensive schedules when it comes to varsity sports, but this is also true for many students especially for music, art and theatre students. A typical mainstage rehearsal schedule usually looks like 3-4 hours a day, 6 days a week for 10 weeks. It is true that in one of these productions that you get very close to your cast and create strong relationships, yet the actors and crew members are still integrated in to the common population because of a few reasons; you do not have to be a theatre major or minor to be a part of the department and we weren't housed with other theatre majors as a freshman. I think one important distinction of Lewis & Clark (and maybe elsewhere) is that because sport seasons start early teammates are often housed together because they move in early,thus for Varsity athletes who you live with is also who you spend all your time with. This can actually be very ostercizing for athletes who make friends outside of their teams. Someone I know really well actually had to quit the team because one of the reasons was that she felt very out of place and left out. To be a part of a team is essential to the spirit of team sports and I think that might be one of the reasons such a division exists but I also don't think is very purposeful. I know a lot of people who do bridge that divide here and I myself know and have friends who do several different varsity sports. This campus tends to have an emphasis on being healthy and so yoga, biking, running, hiking, climbing and club sports are all really popular amongst non-Varsity-athlete students. So we're all just trying to be healthy and do well in college anyway. Sometimes I think we forget that the divide is merely a habitual product of circumstance and that really the more people you know who play Varsity sports, the less extreme the divide becomes.
ReplyDeleteI think this divide is becoming less and less an issue or something that is well acknowledged. I think the main thing that students fail to realize is that when we talk about athletics in the construct of Division III, again I stress Division III, we forget that it isn't Division I. This distinction is often lost here at Lewis & Clark. These Student-Athletes often are apart of athletics because they love they game and still want to be apart of it but still have an emphasis on their education. Division III Athletes here at Lewis & Clark are often thought of as having the same benefits of Division I Athletes. Being a student-athlete I can say first hand that we don't get any benefits. I've heard students say that SAs get athletic scholarships here, that we get to sign up for classes, we get extra help from professors, and that "Administration", people don't understand is a very broad thing, cares more about that group of the student body. Well the fact is, none of that happens at the Division III level. The day of a student athlete is a year round grind. Practice year round, lifting, and not to mention a lot of student athletes here also work to be able to pay for the school. I'm in no way implying that they deserve a boo hoo sob story or sympathy because they choose to be apart of it. Fact is there are some faculty that want to remove athletics completely from this campus. But, back to the point, there is a misrepresentation of student-athletes. What most students don't know is many of the student athletes are very scholarly, Ex: Dexter Pearce, Mens Basketball, going to Duke Law School, Darrell Nelson, Football, finished the 3-2 engineering program here graduating in 3 years biochem and is now going to U. of Washington St. Louis, and some Rhodes Scholars. Not to mention 2 more student athletes, Cody Banks and Harrison Forch graduating in 3 years to be apart of the 3-2 engineering program and will be going to USC next year. This is all in perspective of course because we often form our assumptions and beliefs off media and rumors. I know many SAs who bridge the gap and are student leaders.
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