No double standard: stipends not necessary for college athletes

I am writing in response to Mike Corey’s column from Tuesday, Oct. 5, entitled “Athletes deserve payday too.”

While I respect the author’s viewpoint and appreciate the demands placed on Duke student-athletes, I feel that initiatives to compensate varsity athletes for their efforts by paying stipends (in addition to full scholarships) is misguided for the following reasons.

First, as the author mentions, paying student-athletes for their athletic performance begs the question, “Should students on academic scholarship be paid for their academic performance?” The author suggests that students on academic merit scholarships have time to earn money through extracurricular jobs, an option not available to varsity athletes. It is important to point out that merit-scholarship recipients risk losing their scholarships if their GPAs fall below a threshold much higher than that required for participation in athletics.

However, more importantly, the issue of providing stipends to some scholarship recipients but not others requires an examination of why Duke offers scholarships in the first place. Duke recruits outstanding athletes based on their potential contribution to the University, either by generating revenue or improving the success and image of Duke athletics. Similarly, Duke awards academic scholarships to outstanding students based on their potential contribution to the University both while enrolled and post-graduation (association with smart and successful alumni improves the image of Duke). The question is therefore one of principle: should a university pay students to perform the activity for which they were specifically recruited?

Second, a university must consider the message associated with awarding stipends to student athletes. If an athlete wants to be paid for his/her performance, this athlete should consider the arena of professional sports. Intercollegiate athletics programs provide numerous benefits to aspiring athletes, including the opportunity to develop personal skills and athletic technique in a relatively safe and supervised environment of peers (not to mention a college education!).

Universities provide a wealth of resources for student-athletes not available in the professional sports arena. Scholarship student-athletes are compensated with free tuition to a highly prestigious institution, free room and board, free travel, free coaching and four years of free experience developing skills in their sport. Athletes can wait until they leave Duke to receive a paycheck for their talent.

Jessica Ward