The Drake Group is honoring Nancy Hogshead-Makar, J.D. with the 2020 Drake Hero Award for her determined and extraordinary efforts to advance the collegiate sports reform movement through persistent actions over the past thirty years. Hogshead-Makar’s leadership in addressing sexual abuse in sport, which began long before the recent horrific revelations in gymnastics, is path-breaking, … Read more
The Drake Group Presidential Award was established in 2017 to honor an extraordinary contribution by an individual or organization that has helped advance the integrity of intercollegiate athletics through a public action that demonstrates integrity, the primacy of educational objectives and the responsible and ethical conduct of intercollegiate athletics as an extracurricular enterprise. Johnasia Cash, … Read more
The revised Form 990, “Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax,” filed by many public charities and other exempt organizations, has the potential to fully expose the Achilles’ Heel of the NCAA and its member institutions – the extremely weak, if any, educational basis for the current financial structure of big-time college sports. This would … Read more
In 2004, several members of the Drake Group carried picket signs on the sidewalk in front of the Hyatt Hotel in San Antonio where the basketball coaches were staying during the Final Four. Liz Clarke from the Washington Post described the Drake members as “graying university professors trying to sell something radical. The product they’re … Read more
In January of 2011, the Drake Group and the National College Players’ Association (NCPA) joined forces with CT State Representative Pat Dillon to pass the College Athletes Right to Know Act in Connecticut. This legislation which was first signed into law by California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger, requires colleges and universities to publicly disclose, among other … Read more
Drake Group officers Jason Lanter, Kadie Otto, and Allen Sack met with consumer advocate Ralph Nader last summer to discuss Nader’s proposal to replace athletic scholarships with need-based financial aid in college sports. According Lanter, the immediate past president of The Drake Group, “Nader’s defense of need-based aid for athletes in big-time college sports places … Read more
One need only look at big-time (NCAA Div IA) college and university campuses where the building and expansion of football stadiums, basketball arenas, and other athletic facilities reflects the extant values and priorities at these institutions of higher education. This building frenzy is not only symptomatic of the American public’s sports culture, but also of … Read more
Without transparency, accountability, and independent oversight, there is no way of knowing what really goes on at these centers. Reported improved academic performance is problematic. Put another way, there is no basis for knowing how much of the reported improvement in academic performance of college athletes is verifiable – in the sense that quality degrees … Read more
The formidable task of getting priorities right at Rutgers, and other schools supporting big-time football and men’s basketball programs, must be taken on by others. Reform-minded faculty members in the Rutgers 1000 will likely feel the really heavy weight of their reform lances — risking burnout when they face the defensive efforts of those opposing … Read more
Aside from federal intervention, there is no way that university and college presidents, governing boards, and/or faculty members can be motivated to do whatever is necessary to eliminate academic corruption in college sports. Put another way, these parties cannot be educated and/or embarrassed to do the right thing, no matter how logical it seems to … Read more