My daughter did get 1 credit for playing her sport. ONE. Yep, slipped it right in there with chemistry and physics and calc 3. I got a credit many years ago for ice skating, and I’m sure my daughter put in a lot more work for her ‘class’ than I did. You can’t make an entire major at Stanford out of 1 credit classes for playing basketball.
There are plenty of elite D1 schools that aren’t Ivies - Duke, Rice, Cal, Michigan, Notre Dame. Some are going to have easier majors offered, but there are ‘easier’ majors at Harvard too, and Cornell. UNC tried it with African Studies and it was closed down.
Of course there are colleges where students can graduate, athletes included, where they haven’t learned anything. I don’t care. If they want to waste their opportunities, that’s up to them. There are basketball players at Kentucky who are ‘one and done’ and don’t take anything. Up to them. I don’t think it is happening at Stanford.