
Going to a large football school, this topic of student athletes receiving special treatment interested me because good football players at the University of South Carolina are treated like celebrities. Players like Jadeveon Clowney and Pharaoh Cooper receive major attention from the university, which is understandable considering how much income they bring to the school. Students like these are able to scoot on by in the classroom because of the hard work they they are putting in on the field. This may seem like a fair deal, but it is not fair for the student athletes.  Things like bumping up their final grades or getting them out of legal trouble so they can play in a big game is not helping these student athletes. In fact, it is hurting them. When officials cheat for them, they are teaching players that it is okay to lie and cheat. Through special treatment, college athlete's integrity as well as their education is being sacrificed. The special treatment that student athletes receive in the NCAA is damaging and will end up hurting players in the long run. 

The special treatment begins even before the player even becomes a student in college. Many of these athletes fall under the category of 'special admins.' Special admins are college athletes that wouldn't get into the school based on their normal credentials but get in once presented in front of a committee because they have something special to offer the school. This seems pretty reasonable process, but it is unfair to the players education. Most schools, even prestigious ones, admit to only admitting students and holding their college athletes by NCAA standards and not the school standards. For example, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill is a very competitive school to get into. The Chapel Hill basketball team is also one of the top teams in the nation. However, ten percent of the UNC's athletes were found to read at only a third grade level (Savage). Just because a student represents the NCAAs standards, does not mean that these standards come anywhere near to the school's standards. These standards are flexible and no school has released a grade under which a student may not be admitted at all. "Flexibility appears to be the only consistency" (Alesia). Coaches are pressured to get these good players, regardless of their credentials because they know that if they do not win games they will be fired. However, these coaches are never told, if their players do not graduate they will get fired. This shows that coaches are only concerned about having a winning team.  During recruitment, the coaches are not concerned with whether or not the player will be able to keep up academically once they are a student. Not taking this into consideration often sets the college athlete up for an academic struggle, or failure. In a study done by CNN on UNC Chapel Hill football and basketball players from the years of 2004 to 2012.  It was "found that 60% read between fourth- and eighth-grade levels. Between 8% and 10% read below a third-grade level" (Ganim). 

It is no surprise that when these student athletes are thrown into rigorous classroom settings that they are not qualified for, they struggle academically. Especially when the student is missing classes for games and traveling and doesn't have as much time to study outside of class because of his rigorous practices. Student athletes need to meet a certain grade criteria in order to qualify to play. This becomes the root for academic scandals. There has been incidents in the past where when a student failed to meet the grade criteria, coaches forced the professor to raise their grades so they can be eligible to play. There is the famous Chapel Hill incident where there was a made up African American Studies class. In this class, students didn't have to show up for class and the final papers were similar to something you may have written in third grade.  Here is an example of a final "essay" that was turned in in this African American Studies class. It was written by a UNC Chapel Hill athlete, and he received an A: 

On the evening of December Rosa Parks decided that she was going to sit in the white 

people section on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. During this time blacks had to give 

up there seats to whites when more whites got on the bus. Rosa Parks refused to give up 

her seat. Her and the bus driver began to talk and the conversation went like this. "Let 

me have those front seats" said the driver. She didn't get up and told the driver that she

was tired of giving up her seat to white people. "I'm going to have you arrested," said 

the driver. "You may do that," Rosa Parks responded. Two white policeman came in and 

Rosa Parks asked the "why do you all push us around?" The police officer said "I don't 

know, but the law is the law and you're under arrest (Weissmann).

Schools succumb to this behavior because they are more concerned about their wins then they are their students. By encouraging athletes to enroll in classes that aren't real, like the African American studies class, they aren't receiving a quality education. Yes, this problem solving method may help for the moment, for boosting up their GPA, and taking these easy classes so they have more time to focus on sports. In addition, the investigation was stretched out far too long because the school and coaches did not want to face the problem (Rutherford). When things like this occurs, the student athletes are missing out on their education and actually learning the material. 

These players at these division one schools work very hard for their school and for their team outside of the classroom. They work long hours in the morning and in the evening everyday to improve their game so their school can be represented in positive way. Many people believe that because of the hard work they put in, they deserve this special treatment that they are receiving. They are technically unpaid but the school justifies their "payment" through scholarships and their education is their payment, "It can be argued that they do get paid  --  because they get full athletic scholarships. However, the scholarships are somewhat of a joke. Loads of money are handed out to these athletes who rarely even receive a degree ...  The players receive money to win games and bowls, making the coaches and schools receive money. It is all just a business" (Greenbaum). Education is an excellent and fair trade, in theory. However, with the long hours of practice, away games, and tournaments, these students are basically forced to put their education on the back burner and to make sports their priority. When this happens, professors excuse absences, late work, and won't even grade as harshly because they know that the athletes are busy working hard. They are easily passing classes that they missed, where they turned in late work, and where they turned in half-ass assignments. They are not receiving the same treatment as other students, but they are also not gaining the same education that the regular students are receiving either. The student athletes are receiving a water downed version education that the rest of the students receive. The schools and coaches often do not prioritize the good of the individual because they are using these athletes to make money. People argue that this is really okay because most college athletes are working towards going pro anyways, this is wrong. According to an article on Inside Higher Ed, only 1.6% of Division 1 college football players make it to the professional leagues and only 1.2% of Division 1 basketball players will make it to the NBA.  This means that over 98% of Division 1 college athletes are playing to receive an education that will allow them to do something with their life and after school is over.  However, if the athletes "payment" for playing sports really is their eduction, it is unfair because these 98% of athletes are receiving a lower quality education because they played a sport in college. Sending these athletes out into the world with watered down degrees is not beneficial. This is unfair to the 98%. Their school work must be a priority. 

 Athletes must follow strict guidelines provided by the NCAA regarding financial and academic aid. This is why payments such as cash and gifts are so appealing to college athletes. A video on ESPN titled "Report: Auburn Bribed Players," is an interview with former New York Times and Sports Illustrator reporter, Selena Roberts on a report that she did on scandals that occurred with Auburn football players. It seems that with these scandals, the better the team is, the more dirt is dug up on these college athletes. In this situation, coaches allegedly bribed NFL draft players from Auburn to return for their senior year. It also includes a situation where a coach paid a player 400$ just after a rough day at practice. The league tries their best to cover their tracks. In another article, one SEC player Crimson Tide linebacker C.J Mosley explained "The coaches do a great job of informing us and our parents about agents and things like that. So I'm pretty sure that won't be happening again.". While players are aware taking money or other incentives is not ethical it is still tempting to many players.  "For as many high-profile players as we've had around here, I'm fairly pleased with the way most of them, for the most part, have managed their circumstances and their situation and focused on what they need to do for the University of Alabama" ("Report: Five former SEC players received improper benefits"). In this article, everything reported to be inline with NCAA standards. However, students and coaches often come up with fake statements to keep themselves out of trouble. This behavior is obviously not encouraged by the NCAA by any means but it is also not very well monitored either. In fact, there seems to be a pattern, the better your team is, the more scandals this is involved. For example, "In 2010, the NCAA sanctioned the University of Southern California after determining that star running back Reggie Bush and his family had received "improper benefits" while he played for the Trojans" (Branch).  Even though the team was punished for this action, but it was okay since he was Reggie Bush. People still loved him and today he is a very successful NFL football player today. This teaches other colligate players that breaking regulations is a step on the ladder of success . We are essentially teaching young and impressionable student athletes that while it is not allowed to break the rules and accept large gifts and bribes, if you do it quietly, you will not get in trouble. This makes them think it is okay. It is unfair to player's moral development. Scandals that have occurred within college sports involving illegal forms of payment and how and why it is slowly damaging the integrity and appeal of college sports (Branch). 

The special treatment that the athletes receive doesn't end in the class room or financially. In a video posted on ESPN's website called "Lawyers, Status, Public Backlash Aid College Athletes Accused of Crimes," it shows examples of mens basketball and football students in schools that represent the ten major conferences. This video talks about all the players that have gotten into legal trouble during their time as a student athlete, and how many of them were let off easy. The video uses Chris Rainy, who was the running back for the University of Florida from 2007-2011, as an example of a student who has gotten special legal treatment during his time as a player. He was accused of 5 crimes during his time as a Gator and was only charged once. Situations like this one prove that college players can get away with so much and officials will still fight for the students to play, even when they know that what the student did was morally bad. They need the players and will stop at no cost to make sure that the athletes are able to play. When Rainy was out of college, he continued this behavior of criminal activity. Rainy admits that maybe if he had been punished the way he deserved to be punished, situations in the future may have been able to be avoided. These players are being treated way differently than a normal person would've been treated. Not being disciplined with consequence is how these players are often being treated. This lack of discipline can hurt these players later on in life. Large winning schools are not concerned with the good of the individual but instead, the good of the school as a whole.

In today's society, college sports are taken very seriously. College athletes work hard to well represent their school as well bringing in the school a large income, since the better they play, the more money for the school. The NCAA alone makes 800 million dollars a year (Nocera). These hard working students deserve to be celebrated but they do not deserve the type of special treatment that they are receiving. College players work hard for themselves and for the rest of the school and deserve the special treatment, however, this "special treatment" is unethical and is damaging to student athletes in the long run. Coaches and schools prioritize the good of the sports team and the money it brings in over ethical issues. Avoiding the problems encourage a type of behavior that should not be tolerated at universities or leagues. Ignoring the issues instead of confronting them and making schools suffer the consequences can have a negative effect.  This unfair for the student athletes who came to school to play a sport and to get an education. This is not the student athletes faults, the coaches and officials in division one sports are not prioritizing the good of each individual. The NCAA needs to enforce the rules instead of looking past them, and if they do break the rules, each student should have to properly pay for their consequences no matter how good they are on the field. Division 1 school's with large football and basketball programs have to remember that they are recruiting "Student athletes," not "Athlete students." The student must come first.

