When University of Connecticut guard Shabazz Napier said
“SOMETIMES THERE’S HUNGRY NIGHTS WHERE I’M NOT ABLE TO EAT, BUT I STILL GOTTA PLAY UP TO MY CAPABILITIES,” it sparked a firestorm of criticism around the NCAA over its tone-deaf administration of rules.
athletics. Since its inception, the group has developed legislative proposals and written white papers that it has delivered to Congress, the NCAA and its member institutions, in hopes of developing strategies to bring balance, equity and fairness to the lives of student-athletes.
as an academic fraud scandal emerged. Initially, his teaching assistant in an African American literature course alleged that he had, after poor attendance and work performance all semester long, received special assistance and extra work assignments from the course’s professor.
Around the same time, University of Indiana professor of English Murray Sperber, a long-time commentator on college sports, published Beer and Circus, arguably the most important and scathing critique of college athletics in recent decades. In it, Sperber not only highlights corruption and exploitation in college athletics, but also accuses it of causing a dramatic decline in the quality of the undergraduate experience in large four-year public institutions across the country as university presidents shifted precious resources from education to entertainment to promote and grow their institutions.
While all other TAs associated with the course corroborate her claims and even the professor in charge of the class attested that Clarett and other football players told her they had tutors to complete their work for them, the professor vouched for Clarett’s work. She could not, however, justify oral examinations that she administered to him without disability accommodations being filed. The TA, who only spoke to reporters under the condition of anonymity, learned the lengths institutions would go to to preserve the most viable athletic brands.
Two years later Ohio State University freshman running back Maurice Clarett stole the show as he led his team to a national championship. Unfortunately, he became the center of attention again
While no one accounted for Clarett’s absences, his walking out of tests without completing them, or the accommodations he was given, professors, compliance officers, and athletic administration officials carried the party line. The NCAA never in-
vestigated, university officials provided sufficient cover, and the TA later left her teaching post at the university. It is unclear if she was dismissed or left fearing reprisal. If the latter, there’s certainly precedent to suggest this course of action. In conjunction with the work of these scholar-advocates, nonprofit organizations worked to identify better practices to ensure better treatment, more academic support and balance between athletic and academic exploits in higher education. The National Consortium for Academics and Sport, founded by noted activist Richard Lapchick, has examined sport as a fulcrum for social change for over three decades. Evolving into the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University and the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, Lapchick has supported and produced research addressing underperforming graduation rates and racism in sport as it pertains to the treatment of student-athletes and coaches and administrators of color. The aforementioned Drake Group and Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics represented cross-institutional
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