I. The NCAA, the all-powerful hand that rules over collegiate sport, is under fire. Anybody with any sort of interest in college sport is taking shots at the NCAA; academics, analysts, the media, even students. The above quote from Mike Jensen of the Philadelphia Inquirer outlines the latest hilarity causing hysterics around the college sport realm. The idea that the NCAA has decided to internally investigate it's own investigation of another investigation regarding the Miami recruiting scandal of the 90s is mind-blowing. The organization has become so wrapped up in it's own greed that it cannot even allow for a contracted investigator to come in and objectively rule on the issue. An internal investigation is not going to be nearly as thorough and impartial as needed in this trying time for the Association. The NCAA continues to deal with problems internally rather than allowing outside sources to audit their activities, but they require so many things of their schools that often restrict many freedoms within an institution. This hypocrisy is a major reason for the large amount of backlash among the general public, especially within the academic community.
II. This comes back to something I mentioned in my post last week regarding my trip to the NCAA Convention. On the eve of the Convention, the NCAA informed members of the Executive Board of the NCAA Scholarly Colloquium on College Sports (the section which I was presenting in) that they would be losing their funding following this years event. The members of the board, other scholars, and the media have heavily criticised the NCAA for this cut for many reasons including the restraint of academic freedom, muting of the very scholars that educate the athletes that earn the Association it's paycheck, and losing its focus on academics. The internal decisions that keep spilling out have prompted a question amongst the public: Who is the NCAA really out to protect: Themselves and their bank accounts, or the student athletes that work to fill those accounts?
Interestingly, something I never thought of in terms of the NCAA, is the fact that it is a tax exempt organization. As quoted in the Huffington Post in an article by Dr. Ellen Staurowsky of Drexel Sport Management, "In 2007, then Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means, sent a letter to the NCAA asking it to justify its tax-exempt status in light of its business practices. Thomas wrote, "To be tax exempt the activity itself must contribute to the accomplishment of the university's educational purpose (other than the production of income)."" The only reasons that the NCAA has tax exempt status is because of its (assumed) connection to the academic community, so then why should it continue to maintain that status if it keeps burning bridges with academia?
The two major issues outlined above need to be examined by many different people. Firstly, the members of the NCAA need to examine whether they are being monopolized by the tick that has dug so deep into their backs and now has a mind of its own, and what, if anything, they can do about it. Lastly, The United States Government and the Board of Education need to analyze whether or not the NCAA truly deserves the tax exempt status that it currently holds considering it continues to cut strings with the academic community and cause more problems for STUDENT-athletes.
Articles cited:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-j-staurowsky/ncaa-academic-freedom_b_2541357.html
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/colleges/20130127_The_NCAA_s_self-inflicted_wounds.html
Great reads on this topic:
Dana O'Neil of ESPN @ESPNDanaONeil: http://m.espn.go.com/extra/ncaa/story?storyId=8873398
Jay Bilas of ESPN @JayBilas: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/26/opinion/nocera-the-ncaas-ethics-problem.html?_r=1
Follow me on Twitter: @kevinj_murray
No comments:
Post a Comment