Asking the question of whether or not college athletes receive preferential treatment is a simple one to answer. YES. Yes, college athletes receive preferential treatment from academics to parking. Yes, college coaches and athletic departments and university boards are often willing to condone such favored treatment because of the multi-million dollar endorsement contracts, merchandising profits, television rights revenues, and a host of other lucrative benefits that accrue to a school with a winning football or basketball franchise. The more successful and nationally recognized university sports teams are cash cows. This is one of the major reasons why many college athletic departments are under fire for allowing athletes who are extremely skilled on the field, but not necessarily so off of it, special consideration from housing and parking to academic performance and class scheduling. True, there are some schools with a high reputation for demanding a high level of academic performance in their athletes with high graduation rates to their credit, such as Penn State University, but even at schools like these athletes receive special consideration other students do not. Further, the process occurs because of a misplaced value system when it comes to reward, “The reality is that coaches retain their jobs by winning games. And they win by recruiting players who, if not for their skills, would have the admissions doors closed on them” (Fish 1). This analysis will demonstrate many of the ways in which college athletes receive special consideration, some of them valid because of the extra responsibilities brought about by sports involvement, many of them not so. A conclusion will address how the problem of preferential treatment for athletes is one that is top-down, not bottom-up.
The special considerations for college athletes are many. They also range from relatively harmless considerations designed to accommodate pr...