Syracuse University needs to better scrutinize its academic support services. The services currently in place, while sufficient, leave room for misconduct in their lack of oversight.

Prior to last week’s NCAA sanctions, the university overhauled the academic support services for student athletes. In 2013, Tommy Powell was hired as assistant provost for student-athlete development, which reports to the provost’s office and is not a part of athletics. Powell oversees all the academic and tutoring services provided to student athletes.

Since this overhaul the number of tutors has doubled to 120, who conduct 800 weekly tutoring sessions with more than 500 student-athletes. But only one tutorial-overseer has been hired. It is impractical to think that this is adequate oversight, especially considering the magnitude of violations recently exposed by the NCAA.

In addition to hiring more managerial positions to monitor the tutors, the university should take special interest in who is selected to tutor star-athletes. Campus tutoring centers hire undergraduate and graduate students who have received a B-plus or higher in the course they tutor and have a minimum 3.0 overall GPA.

These students are academically qualified to be tutors. But on a campus which idolizes athletes, student tutors may feel compelled to bend rules in order to help the teams they themselves support. The university should make sure that the students who tutor high-profile athletes are prepared to deal with the pressure and committed to academic integrity.

Special consideration should not only be given to recognizable athletes. Athletes who need extra academic support should get the most qualified tutors. The university should consider the option of hiring professional non-student tutors to help students who require extra help.

Services at SU are helping student-athletes excel in academics. According to an SU News release, last semester, “10 teams had semester GPAs at or above 3.0 and 134 student-athletes had a GPA of 3.5 or higher.” The changes that have been implemented in the last several years have improved the academic support services for student athletes, but those services will need to be monitored to ensure that no future violations are committed.