Tulane University’s sports teams have excelled over the past several years, despite its small size for a Division I school. In 2022, Tulane’s football team won the American Athletic Conference Championship against the University of Central Florida Knights. Then, they defeated the University of Southern California in the Cotton Bowl. In 2023, Tulane went undefeated in regular season conference play. In 2024, Tulane was a contender for an appearance in the 12-team College Football Playoff.
The football team is not the only team to appear in the AAC Championship three years in a row. The baseball team won the conference championship in 2023 and 2024 against East Carolina University and Wichita State University, respectively.
Given the success, is now the time to add a sports major to Tulane’s academic offerings?
Tulane prides itself on its academic flexibility: Approximately one-third of students pursue more than one major. Moreover, students can pursue majors across different undergraduate schools and have until their fourth semester to declare. Tulane’s academic culture makes the addition of the sports major an attractive possibility.
The Sports Major Collective is a group of scholars who advocate for athletes receiving academic credit, like music or theatre majors. A sports major is in the works at Southern Virginia University, Boise State University, Lindsey Wilson University and American University.
To many, it may seem ambitious to create a standalone bachelor’s degree in sports. A great starting point would be to establish a sports coordinate major — which the university catalogue describes as “an additional major designed to complement the primary one” — similar to what the Department of Computer Science offers, among others.
Students pursuing the computer science coordinate major often major in mathematics, physics or other STEM fields, and computer science is a good complement to those fields. Likewise, a sports major could be a good complement for undergraduate students pursuing majors in mathematics, psychology and business.
The addition of a sports major would enhance the academic experience at Tulane. While creating a standalone major is difficult, creating a coordinate major should be more feasible and just as beneficial to students.
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