LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Pay college athletes? It’s troublesome

4/17/2014

After I read Joe Nocera’s April 3 op-ed column about unionizing efforts by college athletes, I initially had some sympathy with their plight (“Union ruling a step toward justice in college sports,” April 3).

There is no excuse for a college or university to allow a program to impose unreasonable requirements on athletes that interfere with their academic pursuits. The universities have only themselves to blame should union organizing attempts catch hold.

However, in most cases the trade-off in the form of free tuition and room and board is more than generous, especially at expensive schools such as Northwestern University.

If the National Collegiate Athletic Association and its member institutions eventually pay salaries to student-athletes, the NCAA and universities can expect significant negative reaction and political blowback from alumni, parents of nonscholarship students, and students who assume loans and/​or work daily to pay higher education expenses.

JOHN STEWART

Monclova Township

 

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Union to doom Northwestern? No

With the recent ruling that the Northwestern University football team can unionize, you can only imagine how long it will take for the university to go bankrupt (“NLRB ruling: Some college athletes can unionize,” March 27).

After all, aren’t unions blamed for economic failure? They shouldn’t be.

TONY EVERHARDT

Walbridge

 

Student-athletes’ IRA would help

One option for compensating student-athletes for their college performance, above the education and housing arrangements they receive, could be an individual retirement account.

That IRA could be for, say, $5,000 or $10,000 for every year the student-athlete is with the team. By the time these people retire, there would be a substantial amount to help them in their later years.

Not all players move on to professional sports, where they can make big money. But with this option, good team players will be rewarded for making millions of dollars for a school.

LOU STEFANONI

306th Street

 

Entry-level jobs go to illegals

Your March 14 article “Study: City youths see jobs vanish” documents the difficulty young adults face in finding jobs. Teens and young adults learn vital lessons while they work for low wages, including responsibility, thrift, delayed gratification, and self-respect.

There are too many applicants for the number of low-skilled, entry-level job openings. That’s why it is difficult to understand the move to legalize the 11 million undocumented immigrants in our country.

Lax enforcement of our immigration laws has helped to fill millions of low-skilled positions. Enforcement of immigration laws will free up many low-skilled and entry-level jobs for our young adults and teens.

DOUGLAS OLIVER

Shakespeare Lane