Drexel University’s Center for Hospitality and Sport Management will host the College Athletes’ Rights & Empowerment: Visioning A New Paradigm of College Sport Conference on March 24-26 on Drexel’s campus.
The university notes that “during the past 20 years, there has been a growing awareness that the practices that are used by the college sport industry to regulate players in the sports of football and basketball (the economic drivers of the industry) often deny them basic civil rights and liberties, impede their ability to access a meaningful education, subject them to harsh treatment and unsafe workplaces, violate anti-trust law, and artificially suppress their value.”
In response to this trend, the conference “is designed to bring scholars, journalists, practitioners, and athletes together for the purpose of envisioning a new model of college sport for the 21st century that places the health, well-being, and welfare of college athletes at the center and provides a democratic avenue for athletes to share in the decision making that shapes the rules governing their lives.
“What will such a visioning require? How do efforts to regulate athletes in the sports of football and basketball impact the treatment of athletes throughout the entire college sport system? What would the impact be if some Division I sports evolved into a ‘club-sport’ framework, something that Michigan State president Lou Anna Simon suggested in the fall of 2015 warranted thought and consideration? Is it time for the system of college sport to be restructured away from a one-size-fits all model of regulation to federated structures that account for different sports and their respective markets? How do various constituents respond to the Wall Street Journal’s question of whether college sport needs the NCAA?
Among the keynote speakers and panelists (confirmed as of November 12) are:
Ed O’Bannon, retired professional basketball player and former power forward for the UCLA Bruin’s men’s basketball team that won the 1995 NCAA national championship. He is the lead plaintiff in O’Bannon v. NCAA.
Taylor Branch, a Pulitzer-prizing winning American author and public speaker best known for his landmark narrative history of the civil rights era, America in the King Years. In the October 2011 issue of The Atlantic, Branch published an influential cover story entitled “The Shame of College Sports,” fueled a continuing national debate. That article was expanded as a digital book and on-demand paperback, The Cartel: Inside the Rise and Imminent Fall of the NCAA.
Kain Colter, former Northwestern University quarterback who served as the lead petitioner in College Athletes Players Association v. Northwestern, seeking recognition for college football players as employees with the right to collectively bargain. Colter was signed by the Minnesota Vikings in 2014 as a wide receiver.
Eddie Comeaux, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of California, Riverside. Comeaux’s publications include Introduction to Intercollegiate Athletics and a forthcoming book entitled College Athletes Rights & Well-Being: Critical Perspectives on Policy and Practice.
Marc Edelman, J.D., Associate Professor of Law, Zicklin School of Business, City University of New York and contributor, Forbes.com.
Ramogi Huma is founder and president of the National College Players Association (NCPA). A former football player at UCLA, he has been on the forefront of college athlete advocacy for the past 15 years.
Matthew Haverstick, J.D., Partner, Conrad O’Brien, plaintiff’s attorney in Corman v. NCAA.
Donna Lopiano, Ph.D., Founder and President, Sport Management Resources and former CEO of the Women’s Sports Foundation.
Amanda Mano, Researcher, Temple University. Recipient of the 2015-2016 Association for Applied Sport Psychology Oglesby-Snyder Grant for Equity and Cultural Diversity
Miriam Merrill, President, Exercise & Sport Psychology Research and Consultation Society, Temple University
Joe Nocera, NY Columnist, co-author of Indentured: The Inside Story of the Rebellion Against the NCAA
Steve Silver, J.D., Associate, McBreen & Kopko. He is the founder of TheLegalBlitz.com and writes a column for The Legal Intelligencer.
Richard Southall, Ed.D., Associate Professor & Director, College Sport Research Institute, University of South Carolina
Ben Strauss, NY Times Contributor, co-author of Indentured: The Inside Story of the Rebellion Against the NCAA
Sonny Vaccaro, legendary sport marketing executive whose life and career were featured in the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, Sole Man.
Andrew Zimbalist, Ph.D., Professor, Smith College. His most recent book is Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and World Cup
CONFERENCE CONTACTS
Conference Organizing Committee: Dr. Joel Maxcy, Interim Program Head & Associate Professor, Dr. Jim Reese, Associate Professor, & Dr. Ellen J. Staurowsky, Ed.D., Professor, Sport Management, Drexel University, 215-895-6714; DrexelCARE@gmail.com
Media Inquiries: Media inquiries should be directed to Ellen J. Staurowsky, Ed.D., Professor, Sport Management, Drexel University, 215-895-6714; DrexelCARE@gmail.com
