“Those pressures have insinuated themselves into settings where we are surprised to see their effects,” he said.

The academic performance of student-athletes, their social experience, and most worrisomely the admissions standards at Ivies have all been adversely affected by these increased pressures, and have led to a “divide” between the goals of athletics and the purpose of the institution, Adams said.

Due in large part to The Game of Life, the Ivy League has recently enacted reforms to its policy on athletic recruitment, Levin said.

Within the past year, it has mandated that all student-athletes have seven weeks off from training during the academic year, it has lowered the number of annual football recruits from 35 to 30 students, and it has extended the academic index—which requires recruits to have a certain level of academic qualification—to cover more sports.

Not surprisingly, members of Harvard’s athletic community have met the scrutiny with skepticism.

“I think it’s a shame that people come out with this stuff, because I don’t think they understand what goes on day-to-day here at Harvard and the great value that athletics plays in the lives of people here,” said Assistant Baseball Coach Matt Hyde.

Hyde also took issue with the idea that a lower GPA means an athlete is “underperforming.”

“These kids here at Harvard come out of here with a sense that they can do whatever they want to do. They have great confidence going out into the job market,” he said of his current players, as opposed to those he used to coach at the University of Michigan.

He added that Harvard athletics could not function with fewer recruits.

“We’d be in deep, deep trouble” if the baseball program were not allowed to recruit the seven athletes it gets annually, he said. “If we were just getting regular applicants and walk-ons, we wouldn’t be able to go out there and compete and win.”

Levin concluded her remarks by noting that she wants the recruiting process to be changed—not scrapped.

“The question is, can we get rid of some of the costs without losing the benefits?” she said. “And that’s what we mean when we say Reclaiming the Game.”