Janet Keefer: What ‘benefits’?
Regarding the June 5 news article “NCAA: UNC lacked institutional control”: As a former college dean at a smallish university in the Midwest that often fielded nationally competitive basketball teams, I question the use of the term “impermissible benefits” to describe the channeling of athletes into quasi-classes at UNC-CH.
That particular “impermissible benefit” deprived the students involved of a genuine and usable college education. The truth is, most college athletes, although outstanding on the field or the court in college, don’t make it in professional sports. They need a Plan B.
Perhaps the NCAA meant that only the university received the “impermissible benefits” of big-time revenue and visibility earned on the backs of academically shortchanged student-athletes.
It’s time for the NCAA, the colleges and universities and the student-athletes themselves to demand that high standards of ethics and academics apply across the board.
Janet Keefer
Pittsboro
This story was originally published June 13, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Janet Keefer: What ‘benefits’?."