drakelead Drake Group officers Jason Lanter, Kadie Otto, and Allen Sack met with consumer advocate Ralph Nader last summer to discuss Nader’s proposal to replace athletic scholarships with need-based financial aid in college sports. According Lanter, the immediate past president of The Drake Group, “Nader’s defense of need-based aid for athletes in big-time college sports places … Read more
Appalachian State University did not violate the academic freedom of a tenured professor who was placed on paid leave after students complained about disparaging remarks they said the professor had made on college athletes and about a film she had showed on pornography, the university’s chancellor has concluded. The chancellor this month rejected a faculty … Read more
The mission of the Drake Group is to defend academic integrity in higher education from the corrosive aspects of commercialized college sports. Vision: The Drake Group vision is to create an atmosphere on college campuses that encourages personal and intellectual growth for all students, and demands excellence and professional integrity from faculty charged with teaching. … Read more
Hutchins Award The Robert Maynard Hutchins Award is given annually to faculty or staff members who take a courageous stand to defend academic integrity at their institutions in response to institutional pressure related to special treatment of athletes, often risking job security in doing so. Robert Maynard Hutchins was the President of the University of … Read more
B. David Ridpath, President Elect of the Drake Group, first contacted the Drake Group in 2004 during his ongoing battle with Marshall University over NCAA violations in the athletic department. Ridpath, in his new book titled Tainted Glory, documents his experiences as an assistant compliance director at Marshall. Former New York Times columnist, Robert Lipsyte … Read more
How Colleges Cope with a Perfect Storm Among other things, schools must confront sports related academic corruption, sexual abuse and serious drinking problems. By Frank G. Splitt, 10-03-18 Download as PDF Introduction – Though our nation’s sports-and-money driven colleges and universities are still considered to be the envy of the world, this exalted stature raises a … Read more
By Dr. Donna Lopiano and Dr. Gerald Gurney Originally published September 11, 2014 Three weeks after a trial over the NCAA’s use of college athletes’ likenesses ended this summer, U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller’s Commerce Committee began hearings on the welfare of athletes and included testimony from NCAA President Mark Emmert. Amid the senators’ skepticism and … Read more
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the Student-Athletes’ Right to Know Act last fall. This requires California colleges and universities to publicly disclose, among other things, their policies regarding sports-related medical expenses and the renewal or cancellation of athletic scholarships. A similar bill is before the Connecticut General Assembly. This bill is long overdue. Follow … Read more
Even the consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader, a relative newcomer to the debate over paying college athletes, was able to use the media frenzy around March Madness to launch his own proposal to eliminate athletic scholarships altogether. The tepid to hostile reaction his proposal brought in many circles, including at the NCAA, … Read more
Much to my surprise the NCAA, under the leadership of President Mark Emmert, has recently enacted financial aid reforms that I have supported for many years. Critics have argued that the changes amount to little more than “window dressing,” but a strong case can be made that the revival of multi-year scholarships makes athletes students … Read more