Recently it has come to my attention that here at Dickinson College there is a difference in treatment of varsity athletes and non-varsity athletes. As a varsity athlete you have access to the athletic trainers for injuries, both serious and routine. However as a participant in a club sport you have no such access.

Now, I understand that it is not possible for the athletic trainers to look at every student who comes in having hurt themselves playing a pick up game on Morgan Field or the volley ball court. However, I believe there are two situations in which a student should be able to have equal access to the athletic trainers when not a member of a varsity sport.

These are if: 1) the student has an injury that was sustained while playing on a varsity team and the injury still needs to be treated after the student is no longer a member of the varsity team and 2) the student is injured playing a club sport.

The way the system is now, students under these circumstances cannot get the treatment they need. This system perpetuates the idea that the health and safety of our non-varsity athletes is not as important as the health and safety of our varsity athletes.

This school policy needs to be looked at and revised. To put it simply, if a club athlete were to sustain a serious injury while playing their club sport, would it be fair for the Dickinson athletic trainers to simply do nothing? What if the injury was a serious one and the inability of the trainer to act lead to the student sustaining permanent damage or even worse, a loss of life? This in my opinion would be unacceptable, and I believe many students and parents would agree.