When I got off the phone with Allen Sack, after he had informed me that I was the recipient of this year’s Robert Maynard Hutchins award, my first sensation was one of humility. So many past winners of this award have been truly heroic figures, people whose risk-taking and fortitude I have personally found inspiring … Read more
The 2009 Robert Maynard Hutchins Award winner was Jon Ericson, a former provost and professor of rhetoric and communication studies at Drake University. Ericson, a passionate believer that big-time college sport is undermining academic integrity, assembled a distinguished group of scholars, authors, and activists at Drake University in 1999, out of which emerged the Drake … Read more
Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana State University has settled a lawsuit from one of two former instructors who said they were pressured to change football players’ grades and hide academic misconduct several years ago. The school continues to deny wrongdoing, and settled to avoid the expense of further litigation by Tiffany Terrell Mayne, … Read more
Jan Kemp Dies at 59; Exposed Fraud in Grades of Players By Richard Goldstein Jan Kemp, a former English instructor whose lawsuit against the University of Georgia in the 1980s drew national attention to preferential treatment of college athletes unable to meet academic standards, died on Dec. 4 in Athens, Ga. She was 59. The … Read more
The Drake Group addresses constitutionally protected speech and expression rights of public college and university students who participate in intercollegiate athletics. The current national debates about the extent to which athletic departments should properly control athlete behavior, especially on social media and in connection with activism require athletic directors to respond to questions such as … Read more
Given the numerous incidences of academic corruption there have been in Division I university athletics, the Drake Group initiated the Academic Integrity Project in 2017. The Drake Group partnered with Karl Idsvoog and Dave Foster (both former reporters) and Robert Baumann (designer) of Kent State University and Dr. Max Grubb of Youngstown State University to … Read more
In light of the current national debate about transfer rules in intercollegiate athletics and other restrictions on the eligibility of college athletes, The Drake Group believes there is a need to acknowledge and define the basic rights of college students who participate in intercollegiate athletics.
The Drake Group believes that most coaches act responsibly and in the best interests of their players. Even when using now-unacceptable pedagogy, most coaches do so without malicious intent. However, adequate evidence shows that the coaching profession is without clear and consistent standards and that absent such guidelines, too many coaches, albeit a minority, are … Read more
Given the new Title IX sexual harassment regulations issued in May 2020, The Drake Group updated its 2016 position statement. Current issues related to college athlete sexual misconduct and other forms of violence were examined, demonstrating that, other than the U.S. Office of Civil Rights rules that have general applicability to institutions, no uniform approach … Read more
There is probably no more significant roadblock for college athletes seeking meaningful educations than the unreasonable amounts of time they must engage in practice and other athletics-related activities. In every NCAA and conference survey and through numerous research studies, athletes have made their concerns and needs concerning time spent on their sports known. Excessive athletics … Read more