Criticisms of amateurism in college sports usually center around compensation for student athletes. Here, sports historian and former NCAA national champion distance runner Victoria L. Jackson calls out college sports amateurism for another reason—racism. Her January 2018 op-ed was published in the Los Angeles Times; Jackson was also interviewed for the Chronicle of Higher Education by Emma Kerr. We suggest that you read both pieces before responding to the questions.
Read it here: Jackson, “Take it from a former Division I athlete: College sports are like Jim Crow”
- Jackson calls herself “a huge sports fan” but says that she “won’t be watching any men’s college basketball this spring.” Why not? What is her position? How well does she argue her position? Why do you think so? Explain your reasoning.
- Jackson identifies herself as someone who personally benefited from the system that she is criticizing. Does revealing her experience give her criticism more legitimacy? less legitimacy? Why do you think so? Explain your conclusions.
- In her interview with Kerr, Jackson discusses some of the reactions she has received about her LA Times essay, and she mentions some of the objections that people have raised. Newspaper op-ed pieces need to be quite brief, but if she had had more space, how might Jackson have anticipated and addressed those objections? Use the suggestions in Chapter 6 of your text, and draft one or two sentences that could be added to Jackson’s essay. Be sure to indicate where your proposed additions would be inserted.
- In addition to her analysis of the deep-seated racism that she observes in college sports, Jackson touches on many of the complex issues surrounding college sports in her interview with Kerr. The question of compensation and amateurism, of course, figures prominently, but she also mentions the problems of gender disparity, concussions and players’ health and safety, and the implications of having a “billion-dollar sports industry within higher education.” Choose any one of the issues and write an essay elaborating what you think should be done to address that problem; use Jackson and Kerr as your They Say, and explain your position clearly.
They Say I Blog 
Jackson states that she is a sports fan, but won’t attend any of the men’s college basketball games as she feels it’s contributing to “exploitation of football and basketball players”. Jackson feels that the revenue athletes should be held to the same academic standard as the nonrevenue athletes. While I agree with Jackson, I don’t believe enough support is provided by the article. Statistical assessments of the academic differences would have provided more support than there currently is.
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I agree with the point Sarah B. makes about Jackson’s selective screening towards obtaining data on such a topic. By excluding a certain group from the data pool, end results may be too one-sided due to her limiting full analysis of both groups of college sports. The only “excuse” she may have for her specific group study is if she declared her intentions to only get results from one side of the field.
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I agree with sarah B and Oleksiy Tarasyshyn with how the data isn’t fully complete with the exclusion of a certain group and the fact that there isn’t engough data for this particular issue since there is a seperation of the the two types of college sports.
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I agree with Sarah B. because you do see more football and basketball players having to stay longer in college because they haven’t gotten enough credit for their majors. With other sports that don’t have pro standings or that bring in revenue into the college, they have more time to focus on their majors and the academic part of things. The way I see it is that no matter what sport you play, however much money you bring into the school, every last person who goes to college needs to earn the degree that they intended to get without focusing to much on that sport and to find that perfect balance.
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I also agree with Sarah B. and Oleksly. Although her choice of not wanting to watch the men’s basketball games is completely her decision, she also seems completely one sided. Not only is there not enough evidence, but I feel as though she doesn’t have a great enough reason to refuse to watch. Unfortunately, something about racism always comes up with sports.
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I agree with sarah b because they are excluding data and only getting selective data. When doing college sports it will take longer to finish college cant take the same work load and from there data they only want one sided data.
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Like everyone else I agree that not enough data is provided to back up the statement of Jackson. Yes, athletes of certain sports don’t have enough time to study due to other obligations regulated by the NCAA but you also have to consider that within those teams their are other players whom know they’re not going to make it as professionals and prioritize their education. These role players don’t get the spotlight that the star quarterback of the football team might get and have a bit more time on hand.
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Jackson doesn’t want to watch the men’s college basketball this spring because she doesn’t want to support a system that she doesn’t agree with its policies. From what I understood, Jackson believes that college sport’s system is solely focused on making revenue and not prioritizing education. Also, even though she seemed pretty clear about how she feels, and what is right or wrong, she failed to present enough evidence on the matter. Even though I agree with some her of her points, I am not too familiar with this kind of policies, which makes it harder to say if her statement makes sense.
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I definitely agree with these claims. There is no way to defend the lack of pay for college athletes except with racism. We all know that college athletics generates huge sums of money for the college, for the NCAA, and for TV stations. How is their work any different from the pro sports? Just the fact that they’re in college doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get paid. I’m in college and I’ve gotten paid for some of my research work that also doubled as an educational opportunity.
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Jackon will not be watching any men’s college basketball this spring because she feels there is a disadvantage between revenue athletes and nonrevenue athletes. From what I read, revenue sports such as basketball is a popular sport, supported by many fans. Jackson said in the article, “In big-time college sports, majority-black teams entertain majority-white crowds. Mostly white head coaches make millions, and the mostly black players don’t make any money beyond their scholarships. These students have little time for academics and therefore don’t graduate at the same rates as the general student body or the nonrevenue athlete peers.” The students who play the sports don’t have the time to balance play and study. The college sports system is more concerned about bringing money in and not making the student athlete’s education important. I wonder where the balance is in the college sports system?
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Jackson illustrates a stable point and is merely saying what people are thinking. While I can agree that this is an important subject to discuss, I also believe that the same players that are being “exploited” knowingly disregard their education with the hope of going pro. The focus should instead be on educating the players on the importance of balancing their ambition for the game and the importance of their education.
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That’s always been the stereotype if your black and not an athlete there’s something wrong. I don’t agree with this. However, I have found that many you blacks going to college tend to be there for athletics purposes for example; a scholarship. Its unfortunate. Many can say that this is not true but statistics are there and I do not see it ending.
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I agree with her that it is unfair that the players do not get properly compensated for what they are doing for the school. I do not agree with her that it is a race issue I think it is a greed issue and the NCAA does not care what race you are all they care about is keeping all the money from the players to line their own pockets.
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Jackson says she will not be watching college basketball this year because of the way the players are exploited. She feels as though the players should be compensated for the revenue they generate for the colleges and the companies that air their sporting events. I believe she argues her point well but I do not believe that these players should be paid because it will change the ethics of the sport. College students are competing to both represent their college as well as try to get attention from professional scouts.
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I agree with James. No one is forcing these athletes to play and represent these universities and they are already treated like Gods on these campuses. If they want to indeed go pro, then they probably never took their academics that seriously in the first place. These universities train them and prepare them to go pro, they give them the opportunity and make it possible for them. Tuition that other people pay gives them the scholarship they need to make their dreams come true.
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I agree with Lucca, I believe it is unfair that the players do not get properly compensated for all they are doing for their university. As players are bringing national attention and high revenue towards the schools they play for. However, I do not know if the case is racial or not, it may be a high possibility, as many college athletes of basketball and football are made mostly of African American race, and looking at it in that case, then one can only imagine what would happen if the majority of the players where of white race. Would they have already been getting some sort of compensation because of all the white involvement in the sports industry? Who knows, but I do believe each player should get a fair and equal cut of the profit both the NCAA and each university is making from their hard work and passion for the game.
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Jackson calls herself a “sports fan” but is choosing to boycott the male sports because she perceives them as being exploitative to the students who generate revenue. by boycotting them she is denying the school the amount of money they would receive from her attending thus voting on the policy changes she wants to see with her dollars.
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I think, if you provide value in this world, you should be compensated for the value you add, by the people that value your contributions. If fans of college sports want to continue their chosen form of entertainment, then they will continue to expect competition of the collegiate level. The professional organizations: NBA, WNBA, NFL, MLB, MLS, etc…are willing to pay these athletes a livable wage…allowing them to provide not only for themselves, but their families and communities. A lot of young athletes get burned out in college. They’re expected to perform at this elite level, yet can’t ensure they eat a decent breakfast. College athletes are expected to study, practice, lift weights, go to class, and of course…be athletic. If they were paid…even minimum wage, they would be able to perform without the fear of an investigation of where their groceries came from this month.
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I agree with Jackson, but I don’t think you need to be an insider or have benefitted from the system to see its inherent problems. College sports have effectively become a circus that undermines the value of higher learning. By providing full-ride scholarships to athletes, solely on the basis that they will generate revenue for the institution by participating in athletics, schools do a disservice to those students who have the grades but lack the financial means or arbitrary athletic ability to attain a higher education.
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I agree with Pedro, the schools do give the short end of the stick to students without athletic ability comparatively, as a student with potentially worse academics will be admitted to the university over a student who has better academics but is not going to be playing a sport. However, on the other end of the spectrum, it completely unfair that student-athletes in revenue earning sports don’t get any sort of compensation outside of their degree.
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I understand what Jackson is arguing and I find myself agreeing. The way I see it no one would like it if they went to work at a restaurant and saw their hard work paying for the meals of other while they were paid in food. It is and unfair reality that these kids are losing sleep and risking themselves to deal with the inequality.
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Victoria makes an excellent point about income-generating athletes subsidizing the sport experience of non income-generating student athletes, also the racial makeup of those two groups. There is an assumption which I question, however. That is her apparent belief that those basketball and football players would succeed in their studies and graduate in much higher numbers were the demands of their sport more in line with those of the non income-generating sports. I’m not convinced this is true at all. A great many would never be admitted to school at all were there not such a high demand for their talents. And in many interviews I’ve seen with many such athletes, of either race, it is rare to see any who might get the itch to be the next great historian or chemist.
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completely agree he is ignoring the boycotting the male sports, most of the system seeks revenue check out more at games and sport
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I think Jackson’s experience gives her criticism even more legitimacy. Although she herself benefited from being a student athlete, she is in the perfect position to see that other athletes do not get the same experience. While the Division 1 athletes are getting a free degree and depending on the school/package, being compensated for their athletic ability, the time spent should also be included. So if athletes are expected to spend more than 500 hours a year on their sport, they should get paid. It’s equivalent to having a salary worker get the same salary for working 40 hours a week but making another salaried employee work 100 hours a week for the same pay.
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She didn’t want to support a system exploiting football and basketball players so “non revenue” athletes like her can both play and study. I agree with Angela Winkler. She was in the position herself to see the different experiences. She was able to see how they believe basketball and football players should get paid like a full time job and others shouldn’t because it’s a different sport. However, they still expect them to be in the athletics of their choice while studying and most likely working another full time job on top of that to make up for it.
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Angela brings a very valid point, Jackson’s experience as an athlete in division 1 sports and I’m sure that some of her friends were victims of this business. I appreciate Angela’s analogy though with salaried employees but Jackson’s complaint is that those revenue producing athletes aren’t given the same benefit of education because the emphasis is on the sport and not academics. Being that most of the revenue producing athletes are of particular races it leads to other factors of inequality, even though they are being compensated.
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I agree with Jacksons claim that college sports has provided lottery tickets for some students who would otherwise has a less than opportunistic future. However, if you are a top athlete and you are given this opportunity you should understand the odds of making in the professional arena of your sport. Talent may get you a scholarship but what you do with that shcolarship should be what we focus to change about college athletes. There are many circumstances that could prematurely end your college career before you even get to the professional arena. The problem I have with this system is it starts way before college. Kids, such as my son who dreams of being an NBA player, can get caught up in the game at age 12 or sometimes earlier. Parents are being exploited for the opportunity to get their kid to the next level. It starts with Amateur Athletic Union(AAU). Coaches and program owners bilk parents out of thousands of dollars annually all in the name of opportunity for scholarships to any number of colleges. Youth sports has its benefits, such as keeping kids out of trouble, building confiedence, and staying fit. However, as Jackson states in her article, this becomes a type lottey system pitting the hopes and dreams of kids against the realities of actually winning the lottery. Try explaining that to a 14 year old dreamer who watches these athletes and thinks he also has a shot at the game.
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Victoria Jackson’s personal experiences due lend her credibility, and the issue she addresses is once again making national headlines. Talks are occurring (with no set deadline) about getting rid of the current “one and done” rule for men’s NCAA basketball, and replacing it with something more strict. Currently, male college basketball players are required to play a minimum of 1 year of college basketball before they can enter the NBA draft. I believe that this takes away from the whole reason for going to college, and takes advantage of schools trying to recruit big names. While schools definitely cash in during that one year, it is the player that misses out. For example, what happens when the player is injured their first year in the NBA and their professional career is over? They won’t have a degree to fall back onto, and won’t be attending school on a full-ride scholarship.
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I am so tired of people turning every topic into a gender and racial argument. After reading the article, the discussion should be based on athlete and non athlete and discuss only between those two parties. Not by gender and not by what race the athlete is. When you sign your contract agreeing that you will play a sport for your college, you are also signing a document agreeing to spend more time training and less time studying. Plain and simple. How do you expect any athlete to be top notch AND take extremely challenging class all in a 4 year span? It is extremely challenging. That being said, it is not impossible. Some athletes get degrees in four years and are involved with high revenue sports such as basketball and football. However, spots teams do not get paid in college, because THEY ARE NOT PROFESSIONALS. Collegiate athletes get free equipment, priority picking when it comes to class schedules, free tutors, and in most cases free tuition. Yes athletes get treated better than most students, but they also don’t get to act like most college students.They have practice insane amount of hours and have constant pressure on them at all times. For me personally i think the college athletes know what they sign up for.
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I believe that Jackson’s experience gives her argument an upper-hand as she has seen, what she describes as 21st century Jim Crow, accounts first hand. I was a high school athlete, but never one in college, so I was unaware of the exploitation of revenue generating college athletes. As I read through Jackson’s article, I started to put things together. I believe that college athletes should be paid, in more than just scholarships, if they are being nationally broadcasted. Some may say that the student’s scholarships are payment enough, but the amount their scholarship covers compared to the revenue generated from broadcasted events is extremely disproportionate. I also believe that student athletes should be STUDENT athletes. Being an athlete in high school, i experienced the bias that came with the title. It was especially conspicuous with teachers that doubled as coaches so I can only image the bias with college level athletes that generate revenue.
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I see the legitimacy that Jackson makes over the fairness and unfairness of the guidelines of being revenue vs “nonrevenue” collegiate athletes. However, I do not believe that this has to be classified as much of a race issue. In my personal experiences, I have seen minorities go to top schools in the nation through their own work in education or athletics. Although unfair to assume that scholarships are handed out like candy, it is even more unfair to assume that blacks are put at more of an unfair advantage over any other minority.
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Jackson makes some god points about the position of sports in schools. Although she makes some good points she needs to back up these claims with stronger evidence. At some point it seems as if her claim is kind of bias and believes that by not watching college basketball this season there is going to be a great impact on the subject. I think that it’s important for her to actually find some evidence to support her claim and find proof that what she is saying is true which could actually lead to other ways to improve the system. I think is important for athletes to understand that the great majority won’t make it professional and their education is more important than playing sports. If students/athletes were more educated about this subject maybe their grades could improve and they would worry more about their academics than just playing sports.
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I agree with some of the claims being made. However, is it really racism that limits college athlete’s benefits or simply the greed of the industry? Many of the college athletes are only competing in school because they are wanted for their physical talents and would most likely not be admitted without. I don’t like how the article is biased towards male sports. Without a clear reason why, the author loses credibility
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I think that Jackson will not be watching college basketball because she believes that by watching it, she is participating in the “21st century Jim Crow” and she does not feel that this system is fair. Her position is that, because black athletes tend to play sports that generate more revenue and require a larger time requirement, it is not fair that white athletes in non revenue sports benefit from black athletes. I think that her position is argued extremely well. Her argument makes sense. If black athletes are the ones who are generating the most money, why shouldn’t they be the ones who are benefitting? Why should white people receive scholarships for sports that do not make a lot of money? Where is this money coming from? In addition, if these athletes are generating a lot of money, why aren’t they being paid? Why should the money that they are given be limited to a scholarship? I did not really think about this before I read this article. However, this article changed the way I thought about the NCAA.
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I agree with Pepper Vongketman because I think that is so true ”mostly white head coaches make millions, and the mostly black players don’t make any money beyond scholarships.” and it is really unfair to the young black players that only focus on playing basketball for the rest of their life, and not be able to get pay that much of money that the white coaches are making. It’s not right that as a basketball player if you get hurt and you can’t play anymore, your carrier is over. That means those young people should have a second plan for their life.
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I also agree because although she is making this a personal choice to watch sports, there isisnt enough data to support her actual reasoning
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Jackson calls herself a huge college sports fan, however she is not going to be watching college basketball this spring. Her position is that the system is wrong because college sports are generating tons of revenue, but other than scholarships, the athletes do not get paid. She also believes that student athletes do not have the time to train and focus on academics, setting up a large amount of them to fail out. I agree with her view because it is a system that is designed to get the most of the athlete’s performance without actually paying them. As Jackson mentioned, even some of the courses these students take are easier because they are applying themselves to the sport and not the academic benefit. This system should pay the athletes based on their performance as they do for the coaches. It is not fair to the students who work so hard just to make the schools more money and possibly even set themselves up for failure in the process.
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Jackson states “Thanks to the labor of football and basketball players, I did not pay for college, took full advantage of attending one of the top public universities in the nation, and traveled to cool places on the school’s dime.” This statement to me seems to make her claim less legitimate. She is arguing that football and basketball players are being taken advantage of because they are not receiving their full academic time and that they aren’t even getting paid. But she herself said that she did not pay anything for college and that she got to travel to “cool places on the school’s dime”. I think she would have been better off leaving this statement out, it seems that she is preaching to a crowd that she is apart of. I also believe that athletes have to be fully responsible to schedule their classes accordingly and make the time to study.
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I don’t believe Victoria made the connection between the revenue sports student athletes and non revenue athletes and racism. She pointed out the disparity in races in the two but to make the leap from that to a new Jim Crow is fallacious and harmful to any real discussion on changing the way that we treat nigh profit sports athletes. It unnecessarily injects a hot potato into the discussion.
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I think this article touched on a lot of good points, I like that angela’s idea on staying out of the situation and leaves it for the college board to handle.
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In Victoria L. Jackson’s article, Jackson argues about the unfairness of non-revenue athletes being more of a student than the revenue athletes due to the demand to perform and excel on the field/court for the revenue generating black athletes. Revenue athletes practice on average 50-60 hours a week compared to Jackson’s 20 hours of training a week as a non-revenue athlete. Jackson states this “work” schedule for revenue-generating athletes usually results in the revenue generating black athlete not receiving as good as education as the typical white non-revenue athlete. She mentions when she ran track at the University of North Carolina that her coaches always put academics before the sport. She expresses that athletes playing football, basketball, or other revenue sports usually take much easier courses and do not end up graduating because they go pro and are just there for the sport, not the education. She infers that non-revenue athletes are white and revenue athletes are black by referring to a study that shows that 62% of the black males that attend the University of North Carolina are a part of the school’s football or basketball and only 2.8% of the undergraduates are black males. She articulates that white Americans justify the college athletic system because the black athletes are getting an education for their “work” while the white public enjoy the entertainment they provide. Jackson concludes her argument that the current college athletic system makes the divide between whites and blacks even greater because the black revenue generating athletes receive unequal education because the demand of their performance out of the classroom but on the field for entertainment.
I agree with Jackson’s views that the difference between non-revenue athletes and revenues athletes in today’s colleges is making society today divided. Student athletes should be held accountable for their academics and not be given such a lenient pass through college; however, colleges need also to be held accountable for their part in the current system. Although I feel like colleges are giving the unfortunate an opportunity to further their education by giving the revenue generating athlete a scholarship, I think they are doing it for the wrong reasons. I believe that student athletes should care more about their academics in college in case they do not go pro; they should have a backup plan that will insure a future. However, I also believe that colleges need to help all athletes by focusing on the task to educate and by limiting practice time for all sports equally. Coaches, athletes, and fans will always want more practice time so college administration or the NCAA needs to equalize practice times across all sports so revenue generating athletes can have the opportunity to excel in the classroom too.
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I agree with Jackson’s views that the difference between non-revenue athletes and revenues athletes in today’s colleges is making society today divided. Student athletes should be held accountable for their academics and not be given such a lenient pass through college; however, colleges need also to be held accountable for their part in the current system. Although I feel like colleges are giving the unfortunate an opportunity to further their education by giving the revenue generating athlete a scholarship, I think they are doing it for the wrong reasons. I believe that student athletes should care more about their academics in college in case they do not go pro; they should have a backup plan that will insure a future. However, I also believe that colleges need to help all athletes by focusing on the task to educate and by limiting practice time for all sports equally. Coaches, athletes, and fans will always want more practice time so college administration or the NCAA needs to equalize practice times across all sports so revenue generating athletes can have the opportunity to excel in the classroom too.
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