Abstract
Faculty are a primary source of learning in college, and they directly impact the success of students. Student-athletes are a special subpopulation of students on campus that interact with faculty. This study uses labeling theory as a theoretical backdrop to understand faculty perceptions of student-athletes. The study looks at the label as the dependent variable, to determine what attributes influence the deviant label of student-athletes by faculty. Faculty at four NCAA Division I institutions located in the South and Midwest regions of the country were surveyed to examine their views of student-athlete academic and criminal behavior. Faculty were randomly assigned to answer questions about either men's football, men's baseball, or women's basketball. I found that faculty have low perceptions of student-athlete deviance overall. However, there were some group differences. The most negative perceptions of deviance among men's football student-athletes and the least negative perceptions about women's basketball student-athletes. In addition, the more familiarity or closeness faculty have with student-athletes the less likely they are to have negative perceptions. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. (Full text of this dissertation may be available via the University of Florida Libraries web site. Please check http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/etd.html )