The old college try: sports at the university

[...]our team won the game, and we all had a good time. Though I wanted to believe that my nagging anxieties about the propriety of some athletic programs were exaggerated, my uneasiness was seriously aggravated when I listened to a popular sports call-in show on the radio and heard many callers, as well as the hosts, arguing that college athletes are being exploited for vast profit by institutions they play for and should, therefore, be provided direct financial compensation in addition to the scholarships they may already receive. Specifically, they called for universities to move academic advising of athletes to academic departments, eliminate athletic scholarships, publicly disclose information about majors, advisors, and courses taken by students who participate in athletics, reduce the number of games played by students each season, and stop using the term "student-athlete" (Chronicle of Higher Education, March 28, 2000). University resources Since the beginning of the modern era the unique mission of American higher education has involved advanced teaching, preservation of the intellectual traditions and bridges that span human consciousness and culture, advancement of knowledge and understanding of all that humans encounter in the world of experience, and providing a forum for thoughtful and free discussion and debate about profound moral, ethical, and technical issues that shape and are shaped by the dynamics of all facets of human society.