round stone seal of the University of North Carolina, bearing an image of a shield flanked by two torches and the words LUX and LIBERTAS divided by a diagonal line, with a brick background

Jay Smith and the UNC Grievance Process

BY MICHAEL C. BEHRENT The case of Jay Smith, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill history professor whose course on college athletics was quashed by university administrators, has received considerable attention because it raises serious questions about academic freedom. Yet, as recent events attest, the case is also important on shared governance grounds. Specifically, it…

Faculty, Students Urge That EMU Drop Football

Here are the opening paragraphs of an article by Martin Slagter on the Michigan Live website: “Howard Bunsis is keeping the heat on Eastern Michigan University, recommending the school drop Division I football and join the Horizon League. “Bunsis, accounting professor and treasurer of the EMU-AAUP, suggested the university consider making the switch during Friday’s…

Florida State Settles with Jameis Winston’s Accuser

BY MARTIN KICH Trying to find and provide any sort of coherent explanation for how all of the threads of this story can be concurrently accurate would be like trying to pull apart a 500-pound ball of scotch tape: “Florida State University has settled a lawsuit filed by Erica Kinsman, the woman who accused Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston of rape back in…

If College Football Players Were Paid on the Same Scale as NFL Players

The article that includes this graph is available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/college-football-player-value-2015-9?

Updates on Two Legal Cases with Relevance to Higher Education

First, the Chronicle of Higher Education has provided this update on former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannion’s suit to receive some of the revenue generated from the sale of products bearing his image: “A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday upheld the main thrust of a judge’s landmark…

Intercollegiate Athletics: Six More Graphs on the Costs and the Revenue Sources

Calculating the Odds of Becoming a Professional Athlete

This post has been in my folder of items ready to post for a few days. John Oliver’s extended riff on the topic on tonight’s episode of his weekly HBO show makes it seem timely. The scale of the following chart is somewhat ineffective because the percentage of high school athletes who become professional athletes…

Making the Case for the Penalties to Syracuse’s Intercollegiate Athletics Programs and Making the Case That They Are Unfair

There does not seem to be much disagreement about what has occurred over the last decade to decade and a half in the intercollegiate athletics program at Syracuse University. But there are very significant disagreements between the NCAA and the university administration about what is responsible and about what punishments are appropriate. I think that…

The NLRB Decision on the Unionization of College Athletes at One Institution Signals, but Will Not Determine, the Changes That Are Coming

The Tacoma News Tribune very recently published a very thoughtful editorial by Bill Virgin titled “It’s Not So Far-Fetched to See the Future of Collegiate Sports as a Business Entity” [http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/04/13/3147199/its-not-so-far-fetched-to-see.html?sp=/99/261/]. Virgin considers the following contrasts: the erosion of the concept of the amateur athlete and the rise of professional sports as a major entertainment…

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