Reforming Big-Time College Sports

The University of Colorado faces charges it used sex, alcohol and drugs to recruit high school players. Colorado is just the latest in a seemingly unending list of educational institutions embroiled in recent sports scandals, spurring widespread demands for reform. A growing number of critics argue college sports actually harms higher education and exploits athletes. Only 54 percent of Division I-A football players and 44 percent of the basketball players ever graduate; rates are lowest for minority players. The critics blame the win-at-all-costs ethic in many big-time athletics programs and the millions of dollars at stake. Meanwhile, the vast majority of schools have to subsidize their intercollegiate athletics programs. And some educators worry that the problems of big-time college programs are drifting into less-prominent sports and smaller schools.