College Athletes: Amateurs or Full Time Employees

2012 Words5 Pages

Ever since college students started playing sports, back in 1879 when Harvard played Yale in the first collegiate sports game, the question of whether college athletes should be paid was addressed. From that point on athletes, coaches, and college administrators have brought forward points agreeing or disagreeing with the notion of paying college students. The students argue that they deserve to be paid due to the revenue that they bring for the college and because of the games they play and the championships they win. At first the idea of paying college athletes was out of the question, but now the argument has gone from a simple yes or no to a heated debate. Since college athletes are given a free education, they should not also be paid.
This argument has reached its peak of debate when Northwestern University football players planned to form a union in order to receive some form of representation. Northwestern quarterback, Kain Colter, started this movement when he reached out to the President of the National College Players Association, Ramogi Huma. He said, “This is about finally giving college athletes a seat at the table. Athletes deserve an equal voice when it comes to their physical, academic, and financial protections” ( Farrey). Huma filed a petition to the office of the National Labor Relations board on behalf of the players of Northwestern. Besides this being the first move towards a labor union in college sports what’s important is that the athletes of Northwestern are not seeking unionization due to mistreatment by Northwestern. According to Colter, “The school is just playing by the rules of their governing body, the NCAA.” Also, this isn’t about just helping players at Northwestern. Colter expressed how he wan...

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Greenlee, Craig T. "College Athletes Deserve Some Equity." Black Issues in Higher Education 27 Apr. 2000: 62. Questia School. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.
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Harker, Patrick T. "Student Athletes Shouldn’t Unionize." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Apr. 2014. Web. 9 Apr. 2014.

Annotated Bibliography: Should College Athletes Be Paid?
705 Words | 2 Pages
Those who play popular and highly competitive college sports are treated unfairly. The colleges and universities with successful sports like football and basketball receive millions of dollars in television and ad space revenues, so do the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which is the governing body of big time college sports. Many coaches are also paid over $1 million per year. Meanwhile, the players that help the colleges receive these millions of dollars are forbidden to receive any gifts or money for their athletic achievements and performances. As a solution college athletes ...
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Black Athletes' Graduation Rates Weak
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Racial Inequities in NCAA Division I College Sports." Graduate School of Education Center (2013). University of Pennsylvania. Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education, 2013. Web.
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Ethics Of Paying College Athletes
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These professors argue that student athletes, under common law and NLRB’s (National Labor Relations Board) employee criterion, do in fact fall under the classification of an employee (Cooper). Under common law, four tests determine if someone is an employee or not. Three of these rules are as follows: “(1) the right of others to control a person's activities; (2) whether that person is compensated; and (3) if that person is economically dependent on that compensation.” According to these guidelines the employer-employee relationship is plainly synonymous to that of coaches and student-athletes. For one, coaches have a significant amount of control over their student-athletes’ activities, two, athletic scholarship money is considered compensation, and third, student-athletes are highly dependent on these scholarships for their food, living, and education. Even after realizing that a student-athlete falls under what the law defines as an employee, we can agree that any D1 student-athlete who works upwards of 40 hours a week to perform at a high level of competition for the universities benefit is essentially working a full time job on top of school work
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Posnanski, Joe. “College Athletes Should Not Be Paid.” Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition, 8th ed. Pages 584-590. 2013.
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Why College Athletes Shouldn't Get Paid
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Salvador, Damon. “Why College Athletes Should Not Be Paid?” 20 April 2013.Web. 18 May 2014.
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Warren Hartenstine's College Athletes Should Not Be Paid?
1084 Words | 3 Pages
If there’s one thing we dread in the summer more than the heat, it’s the afflicting sentiment that surrounds oneself when one is inhibited from experiencing the thrills of football for six long and gruesome months. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football is a part of many Americans’ Saturdays, but to fewer does it mean their lives. Recently coming under debate, many sporting fans and college athletes believe that players should be paid more than just tuition, room, board, and books. Two articles on this issue that bring up valid points worth discussing are Paul Marx’ “Athlete’s New Day” and Warren Hartenstine’s “College Athletes Should Not Be Paid.” From these articles I have found on the basis of logical,
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850 Words | 2 Pages
Paul Dietzel, former head coach of LSU, once said, “You can learn more character on the two-yard line than anywhere else in life.” Ever since the beginning, not only children but also college athletes have been playing sports for the love of the game and have used it as a way to grow character, teamwork, and leadership. Although when playing for a University an athletes job is to bring in profit for the school, this is not why these young men and women have continued with these sports they love. It is usually these students passion, a way for them to express themselves like others have art and music. The question has been up whether these college athletes should be paid for their loyalty and income for the University but by paying these students more than their given scholarship, it would defeat the purpose and environment of a college sport versus a professional sport, cause recruiting disputes, and affect the colleges benefits from these school athletics.
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Should College Athletes Be Paid?
2435 Words | 5 Pages
Today there are over 450,000 college athletes and the National College Athletics Association (NCAA) faces a difficult decision on whether or not college athletes should be paid. Many people believe that they should and many believe they should not. There are several benefits that college’s athletes receive for being a student athlete. Why should they receive even more benefits than their scholarship and numerous perks?
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College athletes are manipulated every day. Student athletes are working day in and day out to meet academic standards and to keep their level of play competitive. These athletes need to be rewarded and credited for their achievements. Not only are these athletes not being rewarded but they are also living with no money. Because the athletes are living off of no money they are very vulnerable to taking money from boosters and others that are willing to help them out. The problem with this is that the athletes are not only getting themselves in trouble but their athletic departments as well.
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Student Athletes Should Not be Paid
1793 Words | 4 Pages
Student athletes should not be paid more than any other student at State University, because it implies that the focus of this university is that an extracurricular activity as a means of profit. Intercollegiate athletics is becoming the central focus of colleges and universities, the strife and the substantial sum of money are the most important factors of most university administration’s interest. Student athletes should be just as their title states, students. The normal college student is struggling to make ends meet just for attending college, so why should student athletes be exempt from that? College athletes should indeed have their scholarships cover what their talents not only athletically but also academically depict. Unfortunately, the disapproval resides when students who are making leaps academically are not being offered monetary congratulations in comparison to student athletes. If the hefty amount of revenue that colleges as a conglomerate are making is the main argument for why athletes should be paid, then what is to stop the National Clearinghouse from devising unjust standards? Eventually if these payments are to continue, coaches, organizations, and the NCAA Clearinghouse will begin to feel that “c...
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Should Student-Athletes Be Paid?
1960 Words | 4 Pages
Woods, Al. “College Athletes Should Be Paid.” Sports and Athletes: An Anthology. Ed. Christine Watkins. Greenhaven Press, 2009. 87-94. Print.
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Why College Athletes Should NOT be Paid
1764 Words | 4 Pages
The payment of NCAA student-athletes will deteriorate the value of an education to the athletes. The value of an education for a young man or woman cannot be measured. It is our gate way to success as...
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College Athletes Should Be Paid
1602 Words | 4 Pages
I believe that college sports should be considered a profession. Athletes deserve to be paid for their work. College athletics are a critical part of America’s culture and economy. At the present time, student-athletes are considered amateurs. College is a stepping-stone to the professional leagues. The NCAA is exploiting the student- athlete. Big-time schools are running a national entertainment business that controls the compensation rate of the players like a monopoly (Byers 1).
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Published. Edelman, Marc. “21 Reasons Why Student Athletes Are Employees And Should Be Allowed To Unionize.” Forbes.com.
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Power, Clark. "Athletics vs. Academics." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 Jan. 2014. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
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College Athletes: Amateurs or Full Time Employees

Annotated Bibliography: Should College Athletes Be Paid?

Black Athletes' Graduation Rates Weak

Ethics Of Paying College Athletes

College Athletes: Should They Receive Additional Pay?

Why College Athletes Shouldn't Get Paid

Warren Hartenstine's College Athletes Should Not Be Paid?

College Athletes: Employees or Students?

Should College Athletes Be Paid?