Simply put, college presidents and administrators live in fear of violating the privacy provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). It is also ironic that FERPA is the very same act the NCAA and its member schools abuse for their own benefit — using the act to shield from public view the academic … Read more
In a nutshell, like graduation rates, the NCAA’s member institutions self assess and report graduation rates and academic progress rates without independent oversight. As Walter Byers, who served as NCAA executive director from 1951 to 1987, said when speaking of a college’s reporting on the necessary progress that has been made on the rehabilitation of … Read more
The House Committee on Ways and Means needs to zero in on intercollegiate athletics. A hearing would expose the NCAA’s secretive ways to the light of day. Furthermore, a hearing would call attention to the need for corrective actions that stress transparency (with related academic disclosure), accountability, and oversight – »Read the full article
The government’s favorable tax policies, viewed as entitlements by the NCAA and its member institutions, not only help fuel the athletics arms race, but also enable coaches as well as school, NCAA, and various big-time conference officials to gorge at a huge tax-free money trough. Putting an end to this practice could prove to be … Read more
Given the enormous broadcasting revenues at stake, the NCAA faces a conflict between its sometimes-contradictory roles as promoter and governor of intercollegiate athletics. Consequently, the NCAA cartel is incapable of reforming itself to stem the growth of commercialism. Worse yet, reform is impeded by greed, fanatic sports fans, a mostly apathetic public and inconsistent government … Read more
What’s next in the vast array of tactics used by schools to compete at the highest levels of big-time college sports? Leading the way in this latest workaround, is a school tarnished by a well known men’s basketball scandal in the late 1990s in which sports officials engaged in academic fraud to try to help … Read more
Unfortunately, the demand for academically qualified athletes, especially for the superb athletes, far exceeds the supply. Thus, in order to stay competitive in a win-at-any-cost environment, schools are forced recruit and employ superb athletes who are not only academically unqualified, but also unlikely to have a desire to obtain a legitimate education. They simply want … Read more
After a century of ineffective efforts to reform college sports, there is a growing concern over out-of-control commercialization that is driven by the college-sports entertainment industry to further its financial interests – exploiting college sports and its participating athletes while limiting access to higher education by real students. Accounts of the problems and issues surrounding … Read more
In this 2003 brief with a foreword by Theodore Hesburgh, Frank Splitt discusses a blueprint for faculty driven reform of intercollegiate athletics. »Read the full paper
They are quick to appeal to the privacy provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to avoid disclosure of any information that could prove damming or embarrassing, especially in the case of the academic performance of the athletes in their money-making sports programs. »Read more