Universities Profiting Off of Black Bodies

Recently, my friend called me to tell me that he just got a job offer that was so good, he couldn’t refuse. An offer he couldn’t refuse, that scared me a little. I feel like a year from now, he will be complaining, wanting to quit his job, feeling overworked and like the money isn’t worth it. When most students are applying for college, they are looking for the best school they can get into, but also the money they can get from the school to cut tuition fees. Similarly, a lot of high school athletes try to stick with their sport and get recruited to play for a college because of the tuition cut, or free ride, to a great school. 

My dad was that kind of student. He came from a low-income family, in which neither of his parents were formally educated, and they had a family of six to care for. Needless to say, a college education was not a priority and it definitely would not come with any financial assistance from his parents. Luckily, he played football in high school and ended up getting a full ride to Notre Dame on a football scholarship. 

A lot of Division I athletes have the “athlete” part of their title prioritized over “student”.

To this day, he always stresses how lucky he was to get this free education in exchange for his labor. I grew up with the idea that college athletes get enough—they get an education. I remember arguing with a substitute teacher, who happened to be an assistant football coach, in my seventh-grade history class that college athletes shouldn’t be paid, because they already are through their tuition. 

I naïvely was projecting my assumption of their college experience to equate it with the gain they get from this type of deal, free tuition. A lot of Division I athletes, however, have the “athlete” part of their title prioritized over “student.” I have met a number of students who are told to focus on practices, games, diets, and sleep. Additionally, there is the hope that professors will help them glide through their classes to ensure that they remain academically eligible to play on the field or court every Friday night. 

With this experience, the athletes are stripped of an equal academic experience to other students.

With this experience, the athletes are stripped of an equal academic experience to other students. While some students spend their Monday afternoons studying hours for a Tuesday test, these athletes are at practice. When job offers come through, athletes are at a disadvantage, their transcript not reflecting a similar quality to students who simply had more time on their hands. In basketball, only 1.1% of student athletes go professional, so this dominant college experience of sports is not reflective and does not help professionally prepare them for future careers. This is the only opportunity they have to profit from this hard work. 

Additionally, not paying college athletes is giving a slight to history. A lot of college athletes are students of color. On the football field, these students are making a lot of money for their university. Their school is not only making money from their athletic performance but also from selling their name on the back of a jersey in the university bookstore. The coaches and university administration, who are usually white men, are profiting off of black bodies. A common practice in American history, black laborers are not given just and equal profit for their time, seen through slavery and prison labor. 

The coaches and university administration, who are largely white men, are profiting off of black bodies.

This fall, California is making historic change on this issue of paying their college athletes. After the bill was unanimously passed through the senate, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Fair Pay to Play Act that would allow athletes to hire agents and create endorsement deals come 2023. Now, students can make money by promoting companies and brands, including their own name. Many universities, like Stanford, University of California and University of Southern California, argued against this bill because they assume that this bill challenges the over $100 million that the University pulls in each year from their athletes. However, this will not necessarily cost the universities. The athletes will simply be making money alongside the University. 

While a bill like this is great, it still reinforces inequalities. Male athletes are more likely to get endorsement deals than their female counterparts. However, it is still a change in the right direction. In an industry that generates at least $14 billion, it seems absurd that athletes remain separate from the profits of their bodies. While it will be a struggle to work against these money-driven university administrations to expand this legislation across the country, California has shown that this kind of equity and justice is possible. This industry does not exist without the bodies used to build them. It is time the people responsible for this flow of money finally profit from their labor. 

Photo provided by User Johntex on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License