Exploitation on college campuses

On September 16, 2011, MSNBC explored the possibility of paying college athletes.  This comes in response to and article by Taylor Branch titled "The Shame of College Sports."

It is common knowledge that school athletics are promotional tools and revenue generators. The article states the U.S. is the only country showcasing big time sports at colleges and universities.  This is an interesting fact, but is not surprising.  The United States prides itself on the success of capitalism and college sports bring in millions of dollars for schools all over the nation. But Branch refers to the "amateurism" and "student-athlete" ideals of the NCAA as shams and legal rhetoric allowing the schools to exploit the talent and fame of their students.  Branch even goes as far as saying amateurism is imposed on the students.

The article gives a great history of college football and the founding of the NCAA.  Since day one, it seems as though the rules were designed to strengthen the favored programs of those in charge.  It is most interesting that the NCAA had no serious enforcement power until 50 years after its induction.  As an advocate for not paying players, reading this article has made me reconsider my stance to an extent.  I understand why the rules exist.  They are designed to maintain integrity in sports and prevent money from influencing how a college player performs.  But the article points out that not only is paying athletes an age old practice, the entity designed to enforce it exists only on paper.  They have no enforcement power and the colleges and presidents involved prefer it this way because it does not stifle the influx of revenue from advertisements, television contracts, merchandise sales and more.  

My stance has always been on the side of the Knight Commission: "Scholarship athletes are already paid in the most meaningful way possible: with a free education." But in the same paragraph, Branch states this is "worse than self-serving" and the argument is convincing.  Considering the fact that most college students do not get paid, let alone a full scholarship, it still makes it hard to understand where the problem is.  Student-athletes have access to services and finances the common college student does not and will not receive.  The demographic really getting the short end of school's revenue is the student who makes the grades and is constantly denied assistance.  

According to The National Center for Education Statistics, 65 percent of undergraduates received financial aid in 2007-08.  The average was 9,100 dollars.  This number includes student athletes.  A study from 1996 found that approximately 14.8 percent of students participate in college sports.  Not the college athlete whose full scholarship covers room and board, meals, and tuition. Granted, exploitation is exploitation.  But a true assessment of fairness may show student athletes are not getting as bad a deal as they think.