The Drake Group brings together a blue-ribbon slate of mental health experts who are practicing clinicians currently working in the nation’s top college athletics programs.  Topics addressed by the panel include how athletes are harmed by others, how athletes are harmed by the system, challenges faced by athletes of color coping with predominantly white institutions and the […]

The Drake Group is maintaining a state-by-state database tracking all state legislative actions recognizing the rights of college athletes to monetize their own names, images, and likenesses (NILs) via employment and endorsements outside their collegiate institutions. Questions should be directed to Drake board member Julie Sommer at jsommer@jsommerlaw.com. SEE QUICK EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND FULL DATABASE […]

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The Drake Group believes that the commercialization of intercollegiate athletic programs has not only challenged the academic integrity of higher education but resulted in a predominantly White community of higher education administrators, athletic department administrators, coaches, and staff turning a blind eye to the racism underlying the economic, education and other forms of exploitation harming […]

New Haven, CONN: The Drake Group strongly opposes the rash of state legislative efforts to fullyexclude transgender girls and women from school and college women’s sports programs. The Group also opposes the unconditional inclusion of transgender girls and women who do not choose to mitigate their post- pubescent male sex-linked advantages. Amid the current political […]

The Drake Group President-Elect Andrew Zimbalist and Drake Board of Directors member Julie Sommer wield a mighty pen with a timely critique of the NCAA’s efforts in the courts to protect its profits – revenues derived from the labor of talented, hard-working—and disproportionately Black—college athletes, especially those playing in the women’s and men’s Final Four […]

The Drake Group urges reflection on the example of The University of Texas refusing the request of Black football players not to play “The Eyes of Texas” at the end of each football game, because of its offensive and degrading history and impact on these and other students.   READ FULL PRESS RELEASE

The Moran Bill permits intercollegiate athletes to monetize their names, images, and likenesses (NILs), and at its core is similar to recent proposals put forth by Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CN). The bill also mirrors many of The Drake Group’s proposals, including broad NIL rights for college athletes […]

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – On January 8, 2021, the NCAA was scheduled to vote on two important and long-overdue policy amendments: loosening of NIL restrictions and transfer policies that require certain athletes to sit out a season after transferring schools. However, instead of voting on these proposals, the NCAA delayed amending them, citing a letter […]

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Drake Group shares observations on the “College Athlete Economic Freedom Act” proposed by Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) on February 5, 2021. This bill was also introduced by Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA) in the House. The “College Athlete Economic Freedom Act” pertains directly to NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) rights for […]

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Drake Group, a national organization of college faculty and others, whose mission is to defend educational integrity in college sports, warns that unless immediate action is taken, the continued abuse of athletes will stain the college sports industry, bring endless legal action, and most importantly, damage the future well-being of […]

The Drake Group applauds the legislative effort of U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Brian Schatz (D-HI) who introduced the College Athletes Bill of Rights on December 17, 2020. The bill is comprehensive and far-reaching, providing college athletes with long-overdue protections that should have been the responsibility of the […]

The Drake Group reviewed the Collegiate Athlete Compensation Rights Act introduced by U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R)-Mississippi on December 10, 2020. The stated purpose of Senator Wicker’s bill is to protect the rights of college athletes, to provide for transparency and accountability with respect to college athlete name, image, and likeness (NIL) agreements, and to […]

On December 3, 2020, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics issued a formal report, “Transforming the NCAA D-I Model: Recommendation for Change” in which the Knight Commission called for a “reset” of college athletics, urging Presidents and Chancellors to play their rightful leadership role in demanding such reform. Unfortunately, The Drake Group believes the proposed […]

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Drake Group decries an October 16, 2020, NCAA Committee on Infractions decision penalizing college athletes rather than the athletic program administrators who botched the computation of their scholarship checks. Over a three-year period, UMass athletic department administrators failed to properly compute payments when 12 athletes moved off-campus. Eight athletes continued […]

The Drake Group is honoring Nancy Hogshead-Makar, J.D. with the 2020 Drake Hero Award for her determined and extraordinary efforts to advance the collegiate sports reform movement through persistent actions over the past thirty years. Hogshead-Makar’s leadership in addressing sexual abuse in sport, which began long before the recent horrific revelations in gymnastics, is path-breaking, […]

The Drake Group Presidential Award was established in 2017 to honor an extraordinary contribution by an individual or organization that has helped advance the integrity of intercollegiate athletics through a public action that demonstrates integrity, the primacy of educational objectives and the responsible and ethical conduct of intercollegiate athletics as an extracurricular enterprise. Johnasia Cash, […]

Members of Congress, sport leaders, advocates and athletes – What they have to say about the need for collegiate athletics reform:  Representative Donna Shalala, Senator Richard Blumenthal, Nancy Hogshead-Makar, Founder of Champion Women, Senator Cory Booker, Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader, former UCLA Gymnast Katelyn Ohashi, and Condoleeza Rice, Chair of the NCAA Commission on College […]

Extensively based on their work as members of The Drake Group, Gerald Gurney, Donna Lopiano and Andy Zimbalist present a cogent summary of the history, issues, and Drake recommended solutions to unwind the corrupting influences of highly commercialized college sports.  From academic fraud, lavish expenditures inappropriate for non-profit institutions of higher education, the exploitation of […]

Karl Igsvoog interviews David Ridpath about his research on mandatory athletic fees, examines recent concussion litigation and its impact on college sports, reports the result of a survey of 131 college presidents on issues related to college football and whether university presidents are taking on the issue of concussion litigation. This video is a portion […]

Karl Idsvoog examines whether college and university provosts are examining the athletic department for evidence of academic fraud and finds that universities appear to be looking the other way, participating in cheating cover-ups, knowingly admitting athletes who do not meet posted academic standards for admission and placing athletes at academic risk in the least demanding […]

Karl Idsvoog examines media coverage of football concussions, concussion lawsuit risk and the cost of intercollegiate athletics. This video is an excerpt from the Presidential Football Project.

Ramogi Huma, President of the National Collegiate Players Association reveals that all coaches promise their recruits that all medical expenses will be covered but do not include any written promise to do so. http://medexpense.jmc.kent.edu/

Karl Idsvoog examined whether University billing records for tuition and fees showed how much students were paying to support the athletic program and found that students and parents don’t know the highest fee the student pays goes to fund athletics because it is so hard to find on most college and university web sites. Some […]

A computer assisted reporting class at Kent State University examined whether Mid-America Athletic Conference institutions kept records of classes missed due to athletics competition schedules and athletic injuries such as concussions. Requests for interviews with every athletic director in the MAC conference were declined.

Mary Willingham previously worked in The Center for Student Success and Academic Counseling (CSSAC) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.  She was an Academic Advisor in the Graduation Division and a Clinical Instructor in the School of Education. Originally hired by the University in 2003 as a Learning Specialist in the Academic Support […]