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College admissions scandal highlights the corrupt and exploitative world of collegiate sports

  

Category:  Op/Ed

Via:  perrie-halpern  •  5 years ago  •  18 comments

 College admissions scandal highlights the corrupt and exploitative world of collegiate sports
It’s time we had an honest conversation in America about who benefits from lucrative athletic scholarships — and why.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T



By   Jessica Luther, Author, "Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football And The Politics Of Rape"

On Tuesday, America found at what many if not most Americans already knew: The system around college sports is broken. Over   50 rich people were arrested by the FBI   for participating in an   elaborate scheme involving falsifying test scores   and bribing coaches at universities like the University of Southern California, the University of Texas and Georgetown to give their   non-athletic children spots on Division I teams   in order to guarantee their children admission. The sports involved were water polo, tennis, sailing, rowing, volleyball and soccer, sports that often slip under the radar (though, I’d be remiss not to say that   college volleyball   is actually a pretty big deal).

Some of the   coaches involved have been fired , others put on leave. The tennis coach who allegedly participated in this scam during his time at   Georgetown was fired   back in December 2017 “after an internal investigation found he had violated university rules concerning admissions.” He subsequently got another job at the University of Rhode Island — which has since put him on administrative leave.

There is plenty to say here that is not about sports. We should talk about the problems with using  standardized tests in admissions decisions  and how our narratives around  affirmative action  puts scrutiny on children of color when they don’t deserve it. We should be having a discussion about the role of money in higher education, about  legacy admissions , skyrocketing  tuition  and  debt , and how much of the actual teaching at universities is left to  adjuncts  with low-pay and no security.

But also, we have to talk about sports. Because it’s time we had an honest conversation in America about who benefits from lucrative athletic scholarships — and why.

On the one hand, we have a college sports system where the   unpaid labor   of   mainly black and brown students   is funneled to the mainly white men in charge of universities, athletic departments, teams, and the NCAA, but punishes the athletes whenever they take even a little slice of the pie (all while   looking away   whenever the very thing they are supposed to get as payment — an education — is lacking).





ust last week, two Adidas employees and a sports agent were sentenced to months in prison for   breaking NCAA rules and paying high school players   under the table in order to influence where they chose to go to college. The idea is that universities were the victims of these schemes, which the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said, “defrauded multiple public universities” and “upended the lives of young student-athletes and corrupted a game cherished by so many.” But it’s not these outside actors ruining something pure and unsullied.   Plenty of coaches   are   implicated in this scandal , and it’s long been known that lots of money is moving below board as often as above with little care unless it’s unearthed publicly. So one wonders what exactly there was to corrupt.

On the other, we have a system where rich, mainly white, parents are paying astronomical sums out of pocket to exploit the loophole that allows their non-athletic children to have lower admissions into schools by lying and saying they are athletes. And that’s on top of the fact that,   as Saahil Desai wrote   for the Atlantic last year, “college sports at elite schools are a quiet sort of affirmative action for affluent white kids, and play a big role in keeping these institutions so stubbornly white an

The sports that are part of this admissions scandal are not ones that are as readily accessible to young brown and black kids — often the result of centuries of segregation and racism. For example,   women’s soccer , a sport that should be as diverse as the population of this country, is instead largely played by white girls and women. On the flip side, earlier this year, Alana Samuels reported about the trend of “kids in mostly white upper-income communities…are leaving football for other sports such as lacrosse or baseball,” while “black kids in lower-income communities without a lot of other sports available are still flocking to football.” And so you end up with mainly white kids   rowing crew or playing   water polo .

Coincidentally, March Madness is just around the corner, the NCAA’s favorite exploitative season   because of the billions   (that’s with a “B”) the organization makes off of this one annual tournament. There’s a reason William Rick Singer, the ringleader of the current scandal, wasn’t paying to get rich kids admitted to colleges on basketball or football scholarships. Sports like tennis or water polo will never generate that kind of revenue or attention or, perhaps, any at all. These are the kind of sports where you find   schools often lying   about how many women participate in order to fudge numbers to make it look like they are honoring Title IX and equity in sport when they are not. And these are also sports teams that draw from a relatively small pool — literally or figuratively.

College sports are broken — we have known this for a very long time. Unsurprisingly, we focus most of our attention on the most visible examples of this. But as this scam has made clear, there is corruption to be found throughout collegiate sports. With the spotlight turned elsewhere, plenty of educators and coaches have been more than happy to exploit their gatekeeper status. Because while you might not immediately think of a tennis coach as the best way to bribe your way into Georgetown, these coaches and administrators can wield impressive influence, whether or not they participate in marquee revenue-generating sports.

The fact that this broken system is well-known is not an excuse for its continued existence. Maybe the utter shamelessness of this scandal will finally spark the change we so badly need.






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Perrie Halpern R.A.
Professor Principal
1  seeder  Perrie Halpern R.A.    5 years ago

Obviously, this is an op/ed so it's just one person's opinion. Would love to hear yours. 

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
1.1  JBB  replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @1    5 years ago

Way back before the internet my Dad subscribed to a service that published lists and forms and instructions for applying for hundreds of obscure and seldom applied for cash scholarships. During my Junior year of HS we, he helped, filled out several possible winners every week so that I had enough college scholarship money to pay my way all the way through four years of a major state university before my first day of class. Was that cheating?

Most kids did not get that kind of help. Most kids do not even have college educated parents. Having well off parents is surely an advantage but having well educated parents an even bigger leg up. There is no getting around it. An Eric Trump has a much easier time getting educated than say, um, Precious...

 
 
 
cjcold
Professor Quiet
1.2  cjcold  replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @1    5 years ago

Sat next to a brain dead football star at KU who blatantly cheated off of my tests. I was told to let him do it when I mentioned it. I was given season tickets to help him pass the class. A very valuable perk. I dropped the class and still earned an A by working for the Prof as a TA. In my years at KU I never saw a game even with the free tickets because I was always too busy studying.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
2  Ender    5 years ago

I read an article earlier about the woman that draws the pictures during court hearings.

She said that Huffman looked very withdrawn and upset while 'Aunt Becky' looked stern, pissed off, like how dare they do this.

I will just say that the latter is probably the most felt opinion from these people. They feel they are above everyone else and it doesn't matter.

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
3  JBB    5 years ago

Guidance Counselors are under paid and under appreciated which is why it is not seen as an important career path. That is too bad...

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
4  JBB    5 years ago

Super affluent kids already have a huge head start so them cheating really irks...

 
 
 
cjcold
Professor Quiet
4.1  cjcold  replied to  JBB @4    5 years ago

Always liked the kids who made their own way despite their parents. Fellow musicians.

 
 
 
zuksam
Junior Silent
5  zuksam    5 years ago

Haven't we been hearing about this type of thing forever. You know the old "Daddy makes a donation so his kid can get into College". Did anyone really believe it was just a myth popularized by Movies and TV. While I think it's wrong and should be stopped I can't help laughing at the hypocrisy of the criminal organization know as the FBI going after these people, it's like a Career Criminal passing judgement on a Jaywalker.

 
 
 
Iamak47
Freshman Silent
5.1  Iamak47  replied to  zuksam @5    5 years ago
You know the old "Daddy makes a donation so his kid can get into College"

This case just highlights the difference between old money and new money.  Old money is less likely to get arrested.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
6  Kavika     5 years ago

College football is the minor league for the NFL, same as the NBA, it's that simple. While the schools/coaches make millions the kids that play are fined if they accept a candy bar...The whole system stinks to high heaven. 

Affluent kids start at the head of the pack. Money/status educated parents and the best schools. While the middle to lower class kids come from schools that suck at  best. Their parents don't have the money nor the education to guide them or pay for ''extra help'' and when they decide that this isn't enough they cheat just like this scandal is showing. 

The odds are stacked against them from the beginning. That, unfortunately, is our system.  

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
8  Buzz of the Orient    5 years ago

You don't have to have a brain in your head if you're an All-American high school football player. 

A movie I enjoyed (I always liked Sean Connery in movies) was about a relatively poor kid who was an extraordinary basketball player, but he was also brilliant in English literature, and a good author, who did get a scholarship to a private high-class high school.  Has anyone else seen it?  "Finding Forrester"  Connery plays a "JDSalinger" type character.

 
 
 
zuksam
Junior Silent
8.1  zuksam  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @8    5 years ago

I really liked that Movie.

 
 
 
It Is ME
Masters Guide
10  It Is ME    5 years ago

"It’s time we had an honest conversation in America about who benefits from lucrative athletic scholarships — and why."

NO !

There isn't a need to "Talk" about EVERYTHING on this Planet to make one "FEEL" good !

It's time we "DID" something with those that Actually receive Government Funding and allow Fuck Ups like this to happen for "Decades"  !

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
11  sandy-2021492    5 years ago

There was a student in the year behind me in dental school who had absolutely no business being there.  He had actually dropped out for a few years and came back, to take the time to get his head together and try to catch up to his class academically.  When he started seeing patients in clinic, he would just forget to show up.  There was his patient who had an appointment, and the student had gone home for the day, and nobody could contact him.

But his father was a dentist, and his uncle was one of our instructors, so his hand was held the entire time.  I'm not sure if he actually graduated and became licensed.

 
 

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