Counterpoint

Following are excerpts from an article by Ken Davis of the Hartford Courant exploring the views of those favoring and opposing the idea of college athletes receiving more compensation:

“They (National Collegiate Athletic Assn. schools) cannot turn their eyes away from the fact that most of the scholarship athletes come either from poor rural families or inner-city areas,” said Ernest Chambers, a Nebraska state senator who has taken up the cause of student athletes. “To ignore that poverty and the vulnerability of these young men is mind boggling . . . . They come to school penniless and we keep them impoverished just to keep up the false impression of amateurism.”

“There’s no question that athletes, especially the minority kids in football and basketball, have this need,” University of Hartford Athletic Director Don Cook said. “To ignore it is not facing the problem. It only subjects you to all the problems that a Barry Switzer experienced (at Oklahoma)--although I’m sure with him that’s just the tip of the iceberg . . . . We’ve got to face the reality of it. Obviously, the student athlete is not being treated properly.”