At quite a few of our institutions of higher education, the sports tail wags the academic dog. School leaders have gotten hooked on the glamor and publicity that can come with success in athletics (especially football and basketball) with little consideration for the costs.

North Carolina might actually do something about that.

The state has enacted legislation that creates a Commission on the Fair Treatment of Student Athletes. The commission might adopt some of the ideas that the Martin Center has been advocating for years and in today’s article, Shannon Watkins sets forth several of them.

One good idea is to prevent schools in the University of North Carolina (UNC) system from issuing waivers for students who don’t have the minimum academic ability that all the other applicants must have if they want to gain admission. No more “affirmative action” for defensive tackles and power forwards who can barely read.

Another good idea is to end athletic scholarships. Watkins explains:

In many cases, athletic scholarships expire and must be renewed on an annual basis. And the coach usually decides whether or not to renew a student-athlete’s scholarship—which covers tuition, room, board, and other related expenses. This power imbalance puts a great deal of pressure on student-athletes who must meet their coach’s standards of athletic performance to keep their athletic scholarship—while maintaining academic eligibility.

Third, we suggest limiting the amount of time that student-athletes must devote to their sports.

Finally, the state might follow California’s lead by enacting a College Athletes Right to Know Act. The point of that law is to counter the false information that zealous recruiters often give to the players that they’re trying to land.

Watkins concludes, “The North Carolina legislature has an important opportunity to reverse a great deal of the abuses that college athletes suffer through its legislative commission. If they seize the opportunity, they can reaffirm the primary purpose of colleges and universities: education.”

It will be very interesting to see if anything comes of this. Lobbyists for the big sports schools (UNC and North Carolina State) will probably try to keep the Commission from doing anything that would put any real restraints on them.