Faceoff: Should college athletes be paid?

The Messenger debates whether participation in college sports warrants financial compensation

Graphic by Manasa Premanand, Features Editor

Yes

Abhay Bethur, Staff Writer

In recent years, many around the world have begun to speak up in regard to their experiences. Whether it’s harassment, racism, or bullying, there has been a drastic increase in people sharing their stories in an attempt to prevent someone else from experiencing them, but is this enough? According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, approximately 21.3% of women and 2.6% of men are victims of rape. While speaking up about it is a step in the right direction, what we really need to do is to allow people to protect themselves.

In a society that allows guns for self-protection, banning keychains and pepper sprays is ridiculous. The only consequence that can come from allowing self-defense weapons is that young girls will feel safer when walking home from places. It may even give them the courage to stand up to some of the catcalling they face on a daily basis.

Of course, not everyone agrees with this. Some argue that such measures are unnecessary in places like schools or even that allowing these tools will cause more harm than good since attackers will be able to use them too.

To answer the first point, it is important to remember that harassment is not limited to certain spaces or situations. In fact, the Education Department found that sexual violence in schools increased to approximately 15,000 reports in the 2018 to 2019 school year, and according to the National Center of Educational Statistics one in every five students are bullied. And these are just the reported cases. No parent should ever have to worry about the safety of their child while they’re at school, and certainly, no child should have to go to school afraid. If these children had even the slightest chance to defend themselves, many of these cases—many of these traumas—may never have occurred.

Secondly, most assailants already have a weapon or advantage when attacking the victim. Self-defense tools only give the people the chance to fight back. In fact, most self-defense tools don’t even leave lasting damages on a person and are only used to momentarily stall or destabilize the attacker while the victims leave or get help.

Of course, proper instruction and training must follow the legalization of these weapons. There is no use in holding a sword if one does not know how to use it. Schools can even provide classes on how and when to use self-defense weapons to allow people to better understand them. Regulations and repercussions on wrongful use of these weapons, like any other weapon, should evidently also be in place. 

And while we absolutely should not have to make these tools legal, society is simply not at a place where everyone can be safe without them. Until the world is a place in which people are safe anywhere and everywhere, it is crucial that people protect themselves by any means necessary.

No

Madisyn Signal, Staff Writer

A majority of colleges in the United States do not offer student-athletes pay, and rightly so. Going to college is not a job. It is not meant to pay bills; it is meant for learning. Paying student-athletes puts extracurricular activities like sports before academics, and it is also unnecessary because many athletes already get scholarships to cover the costs of education, meals brand-name clothing, and housing. 

Student-athletes already receive compensation through scholarships that pay for most of their education. Even though the average scholarship is around $18,000 and still may not cover a full ride, over 150,000 student-athletes in the US receive $2.9 billion in scholarships each year. Most people would consider receiving money in scholarships the equivalent of getting paid, since more often than not, those scholarships provide hefty sums of money. In addition, many college athletes also receive free food on their meal plans and free, fully paid housing on campus, not to mention free school spirit wear which consists of clothing from brands like Nike, Addidas, and Under Armor. If athletes were to have salaries on top of this, that would lead them to believe extracurricular activities such as sports take precedence over their academics. Athletes would start prioritizing sports over school because they’re making a profit off of it, inevitably leading to more skilled, talented athletes neglecting their studies. This defeats the very purpose of attending college to obtain an education

If schools began paying every single athlete, they would not have the funds to support other school programs. College sports are not professional; they are merely a way for students to access a college education through sports. It would be unfair to pay athletes because students are not paid for participating in other extracurriculars. This is a problem because there are a plethora of other extracurriculars that contribute more towards universities. Some college students do research, publish papers, receive awards and national recognition without receiving any payment, even though their work generates more funding and publicity for the universities they attend. 

The goal of participating in college sports should be to continue gaining access to a college education, not earning a salary, and all of the expenses that student-athletes incur are indirectly paid with scholarship money for, food, clothes, housing, and tuition. Therefore, they should not receive additional payment for participating in a sport.