Even in the aftermath of disaster, the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s commitment to collectivism remains unaffected:
Division I basketball and football players from schools closed by Hurricane Katrina will still have to sit out for a year if they transfer to one of the many colleges that have offered admission, NCAA president Myles Brand said Tuesday.The NCAA said last month that it would bend some rules to help students and schools deal with the hurricane, including letting students compete without attending classes.
But during an appearance at the University of Rhode Island, Brand said the only rule the NCAA would not bend was the one that requires Division I basketball, football and hockey players to sit out one year if they transfer to another Division I school. In other sports, Division I athletes can transfer and play immediately at another Division I school if they receive a release from the original university.
Brand said the decision was made because the members of some teams, including at least one from Tulane, planned to transfer together to one school. That could lead to the new school taking the entire team as its own, Brand said.
“Let me call that athletic looting, to be provocative, and we won’t stand for that,” he said.
Yes, it’s “looting” to allow individual students to transfer to another school and continue their athletic training without interruption. Presumably, Dr. Brand would also consider it “looting” for businesses outside the Gulf Coast to hire workers displaced by Katrina.
It’s hardly a surprise that the NCAA’s leader views students as indentured servants of their schools, but still, this is a remarkably crass act on Brand’s part. This is a useful reminder, however, of the value that mainstream academia places on the collective over the individual.
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You have confirmed what I predicted at Up or Down
You have confirmed what I predicted at Up or Down
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