Student Athletes Bad Behavior

In 1995, several years after he stepped down as the NCAA’s executive director of 36 years, Walter Byers published Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Exploiting College Athletes. The title didn’t belie the book’s content. Among Byers’ confessions was the deception he sought in coining the well-worn phrase “student-athlete” to describe college athletes.

Whether college athletes should or should not get paid has been a controversial topic throughout the Collegiate Athletic Association for many years now. According to the article “My Priceless Opportunity” by Bill Walton , he believes that NCAA student athletes should not get paid because “the players entering the game know the rules going in and that they have been given a chance to make something of their lives in exchange for the privilege of being a student athlete”. Others like Michael Wilbon, author of “As Colleges’ Greed Grows, So Does the Hypocrisy”, thinks student athletes should get paid due to their hard work and labor. While I respect and admire the diligent task of being both a student and an athlete, I strongly agree with Bill Walton and the many others who support college athletes not being paid.

Students involved in clubs, fraternities, sororities, and organizations experience hazing. In fact, 55% those college students involved in clubs, teams and organizations experience hazing. Hazing is any action taken or any situation created intentionally that causes embarrassment, harassment or ridicule and risk emotional, or physical harm to members of a group or team, whether new or not, regardless of the person’s willingness to participate. Hazing can occur in high school, intercollegiate, or even professionally. As an individual, you have to know what is hazing. What is going over the edge? Am I doing anything illegal? Or is this causing emotional or physical distress or stress to myself or to others? Hazing, even though its tradition,

“Or when running back Marcus Lattimore twisted his knee almost 180 degrees during a televised game last year” (Walsh, 2013). This example just shows that coaches are more willing to help the athlete if he is popular or an important player on the team! Every player should have the same benefit if he kids injured. "There is no doubt there are horror stories out there about schools terminating scholarships," says Warren Zola, assistant dean for graduate programs in the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and a sports business expert. "It comes down to the ethos of particular schools” (Walsh, 2013). According to the NCAA, there are around 4,000 incidences per year and they most commonly found in football. Most injures cost around 11,000 to repair. After an incoming student signs a letter of intent binding him or her to a university, many schools have no contractual obligation to treat injuries or strains that result from playing for that college.

Athletes may receive preferential treatment when being on a sports team can bring them prestige amongst peers, rewards from the school, and recognition from teachers, administrators, and people in the local community. Some athletes may use their status to interact and socialize with others, since they are popular, where some unknown students may have trouble interacting due to their lack of popularity. Some athletes, who feel they are privileged, may take advantage of the system, due to their status. If athletes are treated differently from the rest of the student body, resentment can arise where non-athletes might feel some way towards being mistreated by athletes and consider outcasts where tension can exist between both parties. A feud between athletes and non-athletes can lead to a tragic event like the Columbine shootings in Littleton, Colorado back on April 20, 1999 where 14 students and one teacher were killed. The two shooters who were non-athletes felt resentment towards athletes were shouting rants and had a vendetta to shoot athletes for past mistreatment.

The NCAA seems to be more content of levying fines and punishment for college misconduct than taking care of the players. Saying that college players are students is no longer acceptable because the fact of the matter is they are much more than that. In an article by Steve Berkowitz for USA Today, he reported that the NCAA had a total revenue of almost $1 billion, that’s according to their financial statement for the 2014 year and he goes on by pointing out that it’s an $80.5 million surplus for the year (Berkowitz) which by all means is an outstanding number when considering the machine that generate those types of revenue has no right to any of it. The NCAA limit each institution on the amount of scholarship they can give out, the highest number of scholarships goes to the discipline that generates the most revenue (O 'Shaughnessy) not where the kids are guaranteed a better life after college. The Lynn O 'Shaughnessy article also mentioned how college coaches try to recruit kids as young as seventh graders thus securing their chances at a high level athlete but not for the kids for the coach reserve the option to change his mind at any time (O 'Shaughnessy). Andy Katz, senior writer for the ESPN sport network, has reported that the NCAA proposed a rule that would let college athletes

“The number of coaches and teams who don't allow players to use social media has decreased in recent years[…]as coaches realize that many players will use them anyway(Deshazo 2).” Social media has become one of the easiest ways to speak your mind and have your voice heard. However, with power comes responsibility, if athletes are not extremely careful about what they choose to announce, it can be dangerous for their career. There has been a numerous amount of cases where an athlete post or says something that they should not have and it costs them their career. Social media can be dangerous for athletes because it can ruin their good reputation and it can become a huge distraction to their career.

There are these ongoing stereotypes that student athletes are “dumb,” “lazy,” and “privileged.” It’s understandable that people believe these stereotypes, news magazines and reports are always talking about how athletes are “coddled” and “cheat” their way to success. Though it is nowhere near true for the majority of student athletes, a select few situations encourage this negative categorization of us, thus putting student athletes under even more pressure to perform. Student athletes are constantly misjudged and the assumptions are affecting us.

Right now the ban on student-athlete compensation is insufficient and is not doing the student-athlete any good. Student-athletes should be paid for their efforts no matter what the rule has always been. These athletes hard work is being taken advantage of by the people around them. A change to a competitive labor market with less restrictions on student-athlete compensation might be a necessity (Sanderson and Siegfried). In 2013 a man by the name of Jay Bilas, an ESPN basketball analyst, logged onto a website called ShopNCAASports.com. When he logged on to this website he searched for some of the most popular names of the 2013 collegiate sports period. After Bilas found these players’ merchandise online, he tweeted screen shots of the

Student athletes at division I schools, where an immense amount of revenue is generated at games and events, are not being paid for their work. This is immoral because the NCAA uses the athlete’s likeness and then the athletes get no direct (monetary) compensation. We should approach evaluating the morality of student athletes using the normative theory of Utilitarianism that supports the claim that student athletes are exploited in their work and on the other hand, Kant Ethics that claims the results of the athletes do not matter, because consequences do not matter.

Salaries, wages, and compensations have always been major and generally controversial topics in democratic America. And, with the rising popularity of college athletics, particularly football, compensation (or lack thereof) for college athletes has recently been a hot topic in American sports. While some of the debate stems from the similarity between responsibilities college athletes have to their programs and those of professionals, most of the issue involves the principles of amateurism. Recent “scandals” involving college athletes such as Terrelle Pryor, Johnny Manziel, and Todd Gurley have raised questions about the ethics of amateurism, particularly with regard to the NCAA organization. The issue is found in a very gray area, where there is most likely no definitive one-size-fits-all solution, but the resolution of this issue is one that will change and shape the future of college athletics across the national landscape.

Along with the game, or match, as a whole being a factor in the social media changes, social media sites also help connect the athletes themselves with their fans. Social networking has become a large part in recruiting athletes at the collegiate level, along with their behavioral decisions while being a student athlete on campus. At the University of North Carolina, the scandal of a couple of football players posting inappropriate photos on Twitter became public due to UNC failing to monitor social media posts by their student athletes (Bowles np). Similarly, social media resulted in trouble for the University of Alabama after their decision to accept friend requests of potential recruits prior to the allowed date of contact (Bowles

According to Encyclopedia.com (1968), “deviant behavior is behavior that violates the normative rules, understandings, or expectations of social systems”. In the article Interpretations and Explanations of Deviance Among College Athletes: A Case Study (1994), Snyder provides “cross-tabulations and correlational analyses of athletic participation and some measure of delinquency” (Snyder, 1994, p. 232).

Despite a tendency for institutions to be lenient with college athletes, as they enjoy the benefits of full-time-student status, they must be held to the same standards as non-athlete students. Every institution has an obligation to set attendance rules; students who attend these institutions have an obligation to abide by them, however, in actuality, professors chose whether or not they’re enforced. This may cause significant problems between other students targeting a player, rather than who is responsible, the Professor. Although institutions want their students equally treated, diversity is well accepted. Existence as a college athlete contributes to diversity as well as a substantial amount of favoritism. Issues arise pertaining to

Rachel S. Cox claims that in the sports world of today, unsportsmanlike behavior appears to be overtaking athletics as a whole. With professional sports turning into “the bread and circuses of a new Rome”, fan’s animosity directed toward referees has soared; states have now passed laws in fourteen states to protect these referees. Profitable contracts and commercial debuts net an immense amount of money for the dominant coaches and athletes. The Texas Ranger star, Alex Rodriquez, recently signed a 10-year contract that was worth 252 million dollars; moreover, during the Centennial Olympic Games, Nike’s ad campaign quoted, “You don’t win silver, you lose gold.” In addition, affluent families stress winning to increase ways for their children to become ‘elite’, magnifying the overall pressure to train at young ages. The athletic director at Union College and member of the U.S. Olympic Coaching Committee, Val