SPORTS - Should Student Athletes be Treated Like Pros?

"How should colleges address conflicts between academics, athletics and money?" PBS NewsHour 4/8/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  More than 21 million viewers tuned into last night’s NCAA men’s championship basketball game, a heady moment for the University of Connecticut fans, but also coming at a point when schools are facing new pressures about how they balance competing interests among athletics, academics and money.

Jeff is back with that story.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  March Madness spilling over into April, a time when millions enjoy the thrills of college sports.

Last night, confetti filled the air of AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, after the University of Connecticut beat Kentucky for the men’s basketball championship.  Tonight, the UConn women have their turn at a title tonight against Notre Dame, in a first-ever battle of unbeatens.

But amid the on-court excitement, a national debate grows over big-time college sports and the status and role of what are called student athletes.  One potentially ground-shifting decision came last month, when a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Northwestern University football players have the right to unionize.

The team’s former quarterback Kain Colter led the push.  He told the Aspen Institute last week that most college athletes, who don’t go pro, need protection.