April 22, 2016 the Racquette Editor-in-Chief
Marcus Wolf Publisher
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Jean-Michael Huallanca Liana Ngai Kevin Agyakwa Staff Writers
Rebecca Augustine Forest Ashley Kevin Agyakwa Jean-Michael Huallanca Ellen Ricks Katie Dalioa Alexis Donnelly Contributing Writers
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Opinion & Editorial College Athletes Need to be Paid Nick Casacci
Contributing Writer
The recent March Madness season brought back the ageold debate about whether or not Division I college athletes should be paid. March Madness is one of the highest payouts that the NCAA receives each year. It is reported that for 2016, the NCAA will make close to $900 million in revenue from broadcasting rights alone. The NCAA had signed a 14-year deal worth $14.8 billion back in 2006 with two media companies just for the rights to the March Madness tournament. With the high salaries and possibility of bonuses for those coaches and athletic directors who do well in a season, it is hard to believe that we are not paying these players anything at all. While many people believe college athletes already receive enough special treatment by receiving full scholarships to attend some of the most prestigious schools, that’s not always enough for these athletes. Some of these student-athletes come from underprivileged families and struggle to afford any other needs that the college cannot provide. With the schedules that some of these student-athletes have, which include school, practices, workouts, meetings and community service events, they do not have any spare time to pick up a side job to make a little extra money. Jay Bilas, an ESPN analyst and former college athlete, was quoted on the Complex website as saying, “If you’re a music student who’s on a full music scholarship, you can apply your
trade in any professional sense you want. You’re not kicked out of the band. Not kept from performing on campus. Doesn’t affect your academic status in any way. You’re celebrated for that.” This really put the topic of letting these college athletes get paid into a broader perspective. Why can music students who are going to school on full scholarships be allowed to profit off of those same skills that got them there, but yet athletes who bring in millions of dollars for the school cannot? So if these other students have opportunities to make money while in college, we should allow college athletes that same opportunity. These athletes are already technically working for the school, the school’s conference and even the NCAA, but they just don’t get paid for their time they put in. While the NCAA does give about 96 percent of its revenue back to the schools and uses only about 4 percent of the revenue internally, and most of these schools are barely even turning a profit from athletics, there are still many ways to figure out how to pay these student athletes. It could even be as simple as providing extra meals, considering an athlete’s caloric intake is so much higher than the average student’s. This issue should be discussed among the board of directors and figured as soon as possible. These athletes do not need to be paid an absurd amount of money, but enough to help them live comfortably during their time in college. The schools should also want this to help create a less stressful environment for their student athletes.
the Racquette
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Overheard at SUNY Potsdam All quotes are taken from the Overheard at SUNY Potsdam Facebook page.
In Union: Girl: “Guess what?” Guy: “What?” Girl: “My ex-boyfriend gets out of prison tomorrow, which happens to be on my birthday.” Guy: “Oh.” In class: Student: “I get my social skills from my cat.” Professor: “That explains a lot.” “I think I might ask the professor, ‘I am very tired and sick so if I sleep through the test, can I get 100%?’ I’m very polite, you know. It might work.” Professor: “Have you ever stubbed your toe in the middle of the night?” Entire class: *groans in discomfort* Parking lot outside Raymond: “Making ratatouille, boss. Thought it was thanksgiving when I stuffed it down my pants.” 2 people in academic quad “I don’t enjoy chidrens tears!” “I enjoy it a little bit...” In Lehman: Girl flipping through Tinder, “Are you the grandpa or the kid?”
Letter to the Editor: Reflection on Dr. Maurice Kenny Dr. Kenny was the kind of man who never had to eat dinner alone. Up to the moment of his death, he was surrounded by people who loved him and whose lives he had changed. But he exuded such charisma and such youth that he put the rest of us to shame. On many visits to his home in Saranac Lake, us former students would bow out, exhausted from laughing and hearty meals before he so much as yawned. I’ll miss that - endless pots of coffee over stories that I had heard a dozen times but which never grew dull. Dr. Kenny did not hesitate to tell me what I was reading for pleasure was garbage, but it
always came with a smirk and sometimes the middle finger. I’ll miss that, too. Maurice had so much faith in me that I developed a real self-confidence for the first time. He changed my life that way. And for so many others, I think the story is the same - I am not the only friend who considered him a surrogate grandfather. While his death has cast a momentary shadow over the world, it is a much more beautiful place because he was in it, if only for eighty-six brief years.
– Ethan Shantie, Potsdam alumnus