certain jobs, you know, i don't think you should be required to check the box as a felon, which only increases recidivism. and i think if people have paid their debt to society, society needs to welcome them back into society and make it easier for them to come back into society if, again, for certain crimes and for certain positions. >> same thing. >> i appreciate you asking that question. because my whole campaign -- my opponent's whole campaign has been pretty much based on this bogus charge, the 97% charge. i mean, independent political analysts have called it both misleading and not reflective of my record. the national journal, which does a review of all of the votes, not just a subsection, ranks me right in the sensible center. and your questionnaire, where have i stood up against my party? let me go through my list, i support drilling off the coast of virginia. as long as we get a share of the royalties, but i support that. i support the keystone pipeline. i've been protested against because of that support. i stood up repeatedly against

the president on the foreign policy choices, both around as we've talked about with isil, but also in terms of being stronger against putin in russia. start calling early in march for these kind of stronger opposition to his activities in ukraine and around europe. and it's that reason that virginians know my record. it's that reason why, again, in this campaign i'm so proud to have the support of more republican, former republican legislators than when i ran the first time. if his claim had merit, i don't think that would be the case. what it is, though, is the kind of political sound bite attack charge that comes from somebody who spent their career as a partisan operative. >> we have two more live debates tonight on our companion network, c-span. friday night live at 7:30 eastern from the 17th congressional district of

it gets under way 8:00 eastern. and in the debate with harkin and ernst, that's live on c-span. then sunday, michigan's governor rick snider will face mark shower. that will be live 6:00 on sunday. with live coverage of the u.s. house on c-span, here on c-span 3 we compliment the coverage by showing you the most relevant hearings and events. and then on the weekends this is the home of american history tv. the civil war's 150th anniversary, visiting key

locations, discover what artifacts discover about america's past. the presidency, looking at the policies and legacy of our nation's commander in chiefs. and our new series, real america, featuring archival films through the '30s through the '70s. follow us on twitter and like us on facebook. >> not one democrat did i see at the hearing on freeing sergeant tahmooressi from the mexican prison. i wonder why. and i've called the president many times in the last months and sought the release of this man, and it seems to me that the

president could have picked up the phone and with one call affected that release. i really don't think he cares. >> i just got done watching your c-span regarding the gentleman, the marine in mexico. i need to compliment you and tell you that this is the best evidence that i've ever seen or heard from any session on the television about the corruption that we have to deal with in the politics, particularly the president and all the things that he is doing wrong, and particularly what he's allowing to happen on the border between mexico and the united states. >> i was watching the town hall meeting earlier. from arizona. veterans' administration, hospital there. my heart was just broke at all

the veterans and what they've been going through there. someone has to do something out there. it's just a mess. and it was really interesting to see just each and every one of them on tv today and the heartache that them and their families have been going through. and i pray that something will be done to help these people. they deserve it, they fought for our country and our freedom. thank you. and continue to let us know what you think about the programs you're watching. call us at 202-626-3400. or send us an e-mail. like us on facebook. follow us on twitter. friday night on c-span 3, american history tv exams spying

in the u.s., and we'll start at 8:00 eastern with a tour of the cia museum and a look at spying during the civil war. and after that german espionage against the u.s. during world war two. a little later a conversation about the soviet spies of the cold war. the senate commerce committee over the summer held a hearing on college sports programs. they examined campus sexual assaults and whether student athletes should be paid, the head of the ncaa and author taylor branch. this hearing will come to order, and i want to thank all of you very much for coming here. you're a bit squeezed in there. but water is on the house, so be comfortable and be glad.

college sports has an absolutely extraordinary position in the culture of our country. not only do college sports inspire incredible fan passion across the country, but they provide a very important way for young men and women to, as is written, do athletics as an avocation and get an education. we're going to talk about that today. many young people, however, athletes provide an avenue to college which otherwise wouldn't have existed, and we understand that. college athletes and athletics are rooted in the notion of amateurism. and the history of that is very interesting and important going back to the founding in 1906 and the rest of it, going back, actually, to a greek concept of amateurism.

playing college sports is supposed to be an avocation. students play college sports for the love of the game, not for the love of money. that is the ideal. but many people believe this notion of college sports is being undermined by the power and the influence of money. i remember a meeting i had in my office with the three top executives of espn, and it was one of those meetings in which i didn't say a word because they just went around in circles, each talking about what a great business model they had, how they had control and power that no other broadcast system would ever have, and how thrilled they were with it and how they were going to make it even stronger. there is a growing perception that college athletics, particularly division i football and basketball are not avocations at all. what they really are is highly

profitable commercial enterprises. they believe that. critics of big time college athletics say the goal of these programs are not to provide young people with a college education but to produce a winning spot in the brief financial awards for their schools. it is not, however, about the students. they're part of what generates the money. it's about capturing the billions of dollars of television and marketing revenues that college sports do generate and will generate even more. colleges and universities say these revenues benefit college athletes and their student bodies at large. but i think we have to consider whether the lure of such riches could corrupt the basic mission of athletic programs. winning teams get higher payouts

than losing teams, which creates a strong incentive to win, an incentive which land grand public universities and others are more than happy to follow. and win at any cost. much of the money is often funnelled right back into those sports programs in the form of million-dollar coaching salaries and state of the art facilities, many of them paid for by the taxpayers to perpetuate the cycle of winning. i think somewhere in my reading here, about $48 million of all the $900 million that nca gets from, you know, their broadcasting, march madness and all the rest of it, a very small portion goes specifically to academics. but even that's hard to figure. because nobody has the figures.

they work for them, they make the decisions, he carries out what they want, and yet i think the discussion is how does he carry out what they want? what powers do you have, mr. emmett, for actually carrying out what you think is a good idea? you've been president of three major universities at different places, and i would think that your passion for education would need to show itself. athletics to me are meant to serve schools and their public duty to educate students, not the other way around. that's the way it's always put forward and that's the way it should be. dr. mark emmet is here to present the position of the colleges. some declined to come here, but you did, and i'm grateful for that.

i believe you were put at the helm because you have incredible credentials, and i think we all appreciate that you're tremendously compensated. i think i'm just very skeptical that the ncaa can never live up to the lofty mission that you constantly talk about and which is written and printed in speeches and statements and responses to penn state this or something else that. you know, the mission -- nothing comes before education -- is always there but the actions don't appear to be. i don't see how the ncaa will ever be capable of truly making a safe, good education experience for students their number one priority. i want you to tell me that i'm wrong, that i am wrong, and that i'm particularly wrong about the future.

but i'll be a tough sell. i think we believe that the ncaa has largely been left to its own to determine what forms are appropriate and how to accomplish its mission. as we continue to learn more about what goes on in some major universities and colleges, we want to know if the ncaa is seriously considering how college athletes are faring under this system. not just living as they do, but injured as they often become, wracked by poverty. if they don't do well, maybe their stipends are cut off, and is there a mandated four-year scholarship. all these things are put at play. how are young men who strap on their helmets on a football field in front of a thousand paying customers, how are they

doing? how are our young men who lace up their shoes and play basketball for march madness which consumes the nation and is deliberately spread out over a long period of time so that no kid 10 years or older can ever hope to do any homework because there's always basketball on. are colleges and universities living up to their end of the bargain and providing them with a good education? are these young athletes entitled to any of the billions of dollars that are reaped from their athletic services? and when young men and women are putting their bodies at risk, do they have adequate health insurance? i don't know. i don't know. and i never go into a barber shop or anything without asking, do you have health insurance,

and i know the answer is going to be no. i care about health care, and i'm unhappy when people who work in places where they don't make a lot of money don't have health insurance. do the schools and athletic leagues minimize the risk of concussions and injury, and what about if they're injured before graduation, can he or she finish out their studies or does the scholarship run dry? well, a couple months ago, we all heard the deeply troubling comments of chavez pier, the most valuable player in the 2014 basketball tournament in the midst of a tournament that generated hundreds of millions of dollars for the ncaa and its members, he talked about how sometimes he didn't have enough to eat during college. how did the college benefit mr. napier the nights he had to go hungry? there he is, trying to turn an example of a famous athlete and

turn it into a large problem. i'm not trying to do that, i think it is a problem, and the whole sense of giving students a safety net and a sense of confidence that if they don't turn out to be as good of running backs or point guards or whatever and they don't make the team or they're let off in their third year, are they dropped? do they get scholarships or what happens? i don't know. the title of today's hearing is "promoting the well-being and academic success of college athletes." i want to have an open and frank discussion on this subject and i'm going to try my best to. the ncaa has the same goal as i do. dr. emmett is going to tell us that the ncaa's goal is to promote sports as a means of achieving academic excellence.

today i want to explore whether the ncaa is fulfilling its mission. we still hear too many reports of fraudulent academics, we still hear too many tragic stories of college athletes that have absolutely nothing to show for the services they provided even though they helped generate millions and millions of dollars. this subject is often discussed, but i'm here to tell you that if, per chance, the democrats should control the congress next time, and nobody is quite sure of that. john thune has one idea, bill nelson has another idea -- and you. yeah, okay. and then i think we want to continue this. we want to make this a continuing search of this oversight committee. we have jurisdiction over sports, all sports, all sports. and we have the ability to subpoena, we have the ability

to -- we created a special investigations unit. we're very into this subject. i personally am, i think our members are. so this is a part of a process here. so i'm going to have some tough questions for our panel as the ncaa and its members schools, are they a cartel? have they become an enterprise which is no different than the corporate witnesses who have appeared before this committee or is the ncaa truly different? and does the 100-year old organization in fact have the best interestsf our college athletes. i turn now to my very distinguished ranking member, senator john thune, from the state of south dakota. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for holding the hearing today, and i want to thank our panelists for the opportunity to examine the

current state of collegiate athletics. and, like you, i look forward to hearing from our witnesses, including the president of the national collegiate athletic association is how the members of its institutions are fulfilling the commitments made to our collegiate student athletes. i'm an avid sports fan. i know all the members of this committee are as well. as a former basketball player in high school and college and a proud father of a daughter who competed at the division i level, i certainly recognize the participation in organized sports not only requires physical and mental strength but also teaches teamwork and other skills that serve you throughout life. however, the college student athlete is and should be a student first. colleges and universities must remember and prioritize their academic obligation to student athletes. as the popularity of college sports has grown, particularly the popularity of college football and men's and women's basketball, so, too, has the

profitability of many collegiate programs. in the current environment, the stakes have been raised both for the student athlete who wants to succeed and for the university who has a financial interest in winning games. increasing revenues for some games and the broadcast rights have become more common. revenues for ticket sales are also significant and alumni want to see their teams win and may be inspired to contribute to winning programs. it is a driven organization to integrate collegiate athletes into higher education so the education of a student athlete is paramount, end quote. however, some institutions appear unable to balance the core academic mission of the university and the commercial considerations that often accompany college athletics, particularly in high-profile sports. many feel the commitment to the student athlete is falling short. another point of contention

involves athletic scholarships and whether the practice of offering annual as opposed to multi-year scholarships unfairly puts the student athlete at risk of losing their scholarships as a result of poor performance or injury. while multi-year scholarships may provide an advantage, they may disadvantage smaller schools that can't match certain institutions. we will hear from ncaa's most vocal critics today. while i'm sure today's hearing will highlight important issues, i hope we will not lose sight of the positive impact that amateur athletics have made on the lives of countless student athletes. we must remember that college athletics is not just about football and basketball. the general director of south dakota recently shared the interviews he conducts annually to evaluate the school's athletic program from the vantage point of the athletes themselves. he underscored two stories that stood out from this past year of interviews with athletes.

he reiterated how a sophomore diver at usd recovered from open heart surgery to qualify for a dive in the championships, a feat that would not be possible without the work of a dedicated training staff, academic support, coaches, team and family. he also noted the moving story of a sophomore swimmer who leaned on friends, family and teammates to help her through the tragic loss of her father who passed away early in the season. with this support, hannah was able to return to the pool and achieve lifetime best times in the summit league championships. as the usdaa athletic director put it these are examples of what college means, if you strip away the buck, you are left with student athletes who often have to overcome personal, social, economic, athletic adversity all just to compete but they frequently do wit passion and

determination na makes us all proud end quote. that's from the athletic director of the university of south dakota. recognizing challenges exist. it's my hope the member institution the student athletes, themselves and other stakeholders, will seek solutions to promote the education, health and seek to preserve amateurism. this is an area where congress can provide a forum but the solutions are most-likely to come from those most wage involved in the education and development of student athletes. mr. chairman, thank you again for holding this hearing. i look forward to hearing and having an opportunity to question our witnesses. thank you. >> thank you, sir. what we're going to do now is we're going to hear the testimony and then both senator mccaskill and senator booker, both of whom are sterling and wonderful people are going to

get very, very angry at me because i'm going to charge into the regular order and i'm going to allow senator coates to ask the first question, which rights all the rules of the committee. >> well, i'm mad. >> that will make you a better questioner. >> as the most junior member of the committee, the rules will not allow me to be mad at you. >> mr. chairman, for what it's worth. i was under the impression we were one of the first to arrive and be able to ask questions in order. i arrived at 23:10 so i could be first. i didn't want to put you in a bad spot or breach the rules eitherer. >> you never do you will ask the first questions after the two of us. and thank you for being here and don't be nervous. okay.

i mean it. it's a wonderful opportunity to say what's in your heart and on your mind. >> first i want to invite the committee to share my experience of knowledge on this very important subject. it's a very complicated subject as well. i've had many conversations with fellow student athletes on this issue about the current role of student athletes today in this giant scheme of collegiate athletics. we often walk away from those conversations with more questions than answers. so i'm hoping today is a first step towards answering some of those questions and providing some context and some clarity to this discussion so that we can see our student athletes receive maximum edification in all aspects of their person, be it a

man or woman student, an athlete, a wasn't and a him who, that's very important to me. i want to start my remarks by the genesis of my story. my parents are from the highlands of the bahamas, i was born here in the states and raised. i went to high school in princeton, new jersey. after high school days if princeton, i would go over to the university and i saw the big poster, a statue and trophies of this guy who became my he. his name was bill bradley. he was just a rockstar, in my opinion. the epitome of what a student athlete out to be, best player in college. at a school like princeton, nba. hall of famer, u.s. senator and

a road scholar. that's the first time i heard those roads in the same sentence. once i finished high school in princeton, i had 83 scholarship offers to go anywhere and play football. i was rated the number one prospect in the country by espn. when i got to campus the first thing i did was go to the office of national fellowships and tell them i want to be a scholar. three years later, i was fortunate to earn that! then i went to meet my teachers and tell them i want you to increase my educational capital, so i can be a pediatric nurse. now i'm a senior medical student hopefully able do that in the future. lastly, i went to my athletic coaches and football coaches and

told them i want them to equip my body and get pe ready for a career as a national football player around fortunately i was able to be with the titans and play for the steelers as well. now it may sound like my story is pristine and ideal and used as the poster child for which you want a collegiate athlete to have an experience. i will say my story is quite rare and unique. some people call it an anomaly. outside of for cory booker the last to win a rose scholarship was a guy called pat hayden. he played at usc and los angeles rams as a quarterback. there are few athletes i have come in contact with had the same infrastructure the family support the foresights, not come from a broken school or family able to engage if their college experience and maximize their team. many more of my teammates, family, friends, struggled in the college environment,

struggled economically. now with the scholarship stipends they received they became believe it or not the main bread winners for there families and had so send some scholarship money home to take care of their immediate and extended family. they struggled academically as well. a lot would go through this academic machinery and be spit out of that machine, left, torn, warn, asked some questions. we were no directional guidance on where they should go. no purpose, no idea of their trajectory, sometimes it didn't behoove their interests. i open we can shed light as you said chairman rockefeller we are pouring energy and exposure and highlighting on tv the life of the athlete. but i believe we are still falling a bit short of edifying and improving him augmenting the aspect of the student, the person the man, the woman and the philanthropist and the leader. i believe if we do that, we can see these athletes at major schools be productive, but more importantly, be productive leaders and citizens that go on to be industries of men and women and really have an indelible impact as they go on to their future. thank you for having me here. i'm looking forward to having this drugs. >> thank you, very, very much and now devonn ramsay. >> welcome. >> good afternoon. devonn. right?

>> good afternoon, chairman. >> yeah. >> good afternoon, chairman rockefeller and members ought committee. it is an honor and a pleasure to have this opportunity to be in your presence and share my story and thoughts on the current state of college athletics. let me first thank you and your staff for the invitation. 1988 in red bank, new jersey. my mother has always vowed anything education and sent me to a blue ribbon school that covered kindergarten through 8th grade. i excelled in the claszroom and participated in athletics. i decide to sign my letter of intent to go to the university of north carolina, chapel hill. what drew me to that school was not only its esteemed reputation as a top academic institution

but a new hire of coach davis. it showed that the university had an all-around commitment to excellence. now my career at the university of north carolina has been one filled with adversity. i've undergone five surgeries, been through three head coaches, and been asked if i wanted to transfer or take a medical red shirt. however, despite all this, i managed to be named an offensive starter four out of the six years. and named the top three in my position. but most importantly, i got my degree in public policy, concentration in business. i moved back to red bank, where i would pursue my hopes of making a nfl team. however, i didn't make the team at tampa bay. now in the summer of 2010, two of my teammates have violated ncaa rules and attended a party

thrown by sports agents. the university launched their own investigation into the matter and discovered several counts of academic fraud. before we played clemson, i was told to report to one of the conference rooms and was brought in for questioning. before the questioning began i was told that this conversation would be recorded and was asked if i needed a lawyer. i thought i had been called in there to see if they could find any more leads for the investigation. then they asked, they began to ask me about my definition of academic fraud, academic dishonesty and plagiarism. and that's when they brought out a two-year-old e-mail correspondence between myself and a tutor. in the e-mail i asked for help with grammar and overall help in the paper. she replied by adding four to five sentences to a two and a half page paper. they asked me if this is the

exact same paper i turned in. however, i couldn't remember, since it was two years ago. in the following four weeks, i was held out of competition, they sent me to the university's honor court. and an attorney general of the honor court said there was no evidence here. they had no final version of the paper, it wasn't submitted electronically, and i don't know. most people don't keep papers from two years ago. as i was being held out by unc, an official from the compliance office proposed that if i were to plead guilty after being held for so many games that the eanc would allow me to play. i believed he was well versed in ncaa policy. it was a shocking blow when they ruled me of academic fraud which tarnishes my reputation and strips away my eligibility. after coming to the realization that unc was more concerned with

penalties and losses of scholarship than protecting one of its own, my mother and i set out to find lawyers that would hopefully have my best interests at heart. however, none wanted to stand against the ncaa or its membership. thankfully for me, a state supreme court judge reached out to my mother after reading an article, i had no one to turn to. as we went through the appeals process, which was possible with the endorsement of the university of north carolina, the leadership at unc once again wanted me to take a plea for a reduced sentence, however, the judge, high mother and i needed to have my name unsullied. by going back and looking at the original interview, the ncaa overturned its ruling and reinstated my eligibility. unfortunately, the first game of the next season i tore three

ligaments in my knee. after receiving a sixth year of eligibility i was not able to return to the play until my final game, which i participated in two plays. now one of the things that was looking back at my career that i wish i could have partaken in, was in internships. a few of my friends from lawrenceville wednesday on to play at the ivy league. and with their, it's not as demanding as, you know, high-level division one football. they were allowed to go in, you know, pursue other things during the summer. and upon graduation, some of my friends got great job offers. an internship gives you direction, teaches you valuable life lessons and prepares you for a level of professionalism. at a competitive football school, completing an internship is virtually impossible. in order to steve your steepnd in the summer one must be enrolled in a certain number of credit hours.

i've seen several teammates try to manage and they ended up quitting because they were exhausted. only one was able to count toward his credit hours and he wasn't required to go to any classes. it would create another source of income. in fact, during a panel discussion about the documentary school, the price of college sport, head coach of the george mason men's team paul hewitt says his team has to do an internship before they graduate, a mandatory one. i think this is a great practice. if the ncaa truly wants to develop student athletes and prepare them for success on the field then they should mandate that all athletes complete an internship. the reason it needs to be

mandated is because of the existing culture that demonizes anything that won't help the program. i have friends that were labeled as selfish and lazy and almost a cancer to the team. but, in fact, he's just going home. he's still working out. he's just trying to prove his own value and likelihood that he's not going to make the nfl. i've come to realize that there's a void in college athletics. the ncaa as an institution no longer protects the student athlete. they're more concerned with signage and profit margins. i wasn't aware that i needed to defend myself against the university and the ncaa. and as a student, i lacked the resources and knowledge to defend myself against an 80-year old institution. my family lacked the resources to hire a lawyer, and if i refused to be interviewed i would have been hell out until i testified. in the ncaa, college football

players have a very small window of opportunity prove our worth to the nfl. therefore every game you miss is a lost opportunity. there needs to exist an entity that quickly and effectively advocates for the student the athlete. i was extremely fortunate that judge orr reached out to my family. but it terrifies me to think of those who may have their reputation damaged. the student athlete has a short career and is an amazing renewable resource. and because of that, the ncaa is able to take vac of naïve men and women. there needs to be an institution that has no ties to the universities or the ncaa, allowing the ncaa to continue to intimidate athletes and schools is unfair. to quota poet, "who will watch the watchman." >> thank you very much. we appreciate it a lot.

mr. taylor branch is from baltimore. he's an author and has written what i call five best books ever written in terms of my own reading preferences. about the civil rights movement and the development of it. and he's also an expert on this subject and has written extensive extensively. we welcome you, sir. >> thank you. thank you senator rockefeller and senator thune. thank you, members of the committee, guests, sports fans, educators. i'm honored to be here. the subject for your hearing today, college sports and the well-being of college athletes is full of minefields and myths. i hope to offer some summary comments for possible discussion under three headings. amateurism, balance and equity. amateurism has become the distinguishing feature of ncaa

governments. it is identified in official pronouncement as the he bedrock princip principle. it is defined as follows. student athletes should be amateurs and their participation should be motivated primarily by education and by the physical, mental and social benefits to be derived. student participation in intercollegiate athletics is an avocation, and student athletes should be protected from exploitation by professional and commercial enterprises, closed quote. that's ncaa bylaw 2.9. the word amateur reflects conflicted attitudes about money, youth, and the purposes of recreation. its broad am biv lance has opened a muddled flexibility in public habits, allowing the united states to become the only nation to develop sports at

higher learning. even the major universities which were founded to uphold intellectual rigor ignore the multi-billion side industry built on their students. it begins with the word itself. dictionary synonyms go from a rookie and gives a stinging "the people who run that company are a bunch of amateurs." this ambiguity gains reenforcement in our uniquely designed popular world of sports where fans are encouraged to cheer and boo without thinking objectively. the idea of amateurism has always been misleading, because the athletes for olympus

completed for huge prizes. modern scholars have confirmed high stakes victory and loss. purists who refuse to mix money with sport did not exist in the ancient world, concludes one author. a golf legend bobby jones is enshrined as the model amateur and gentleman who declined every championship prize he earned. his reputation fits the true definition of amateur, which is derived from the latin meaning lover, someone who chooses

because of devotion and not financial gain. significantly, students themselves call themselves amateurs when they invented intercollegiate sports after the civil war. until 1905, students retained general control of the new phenomenon from everything from scheduling and equipment to ticket sales. they recruited alumni to construct harvard stadium in 1903 with zero funds from the college. neither the faculties or other critics assisted in developing athletics from the man who became the father of college football in his spare time. the ncaa created in 1906 slowly transformed the amateur tradition inherited from college athletes. its board declared a goal of total faculty control as late as

1922, and the weak ncaa organization could not hire its first full-time staff member until 1951. after that, however, burgening revenue changed it. personal motivation commonly run afoul of the constitution. even if internal standards were allowed and could be measured, ncaa rules contradict the key element that sports must be an avocation, which comes from coc -- vocare and vox. balance, checks and balances are required for sound governance. and the ncaa structure is unbalanced in at least four basic respects.

first, ncaa enforcement suffers an inherent conflict of interest between alleged violations in football as opposed to basketball, because the organization lost its television revenue from college football and is almost wholly dependent on a sole-source broadcasting contract for the march madness basketball tournament. second, the ncaa structure creates a false impression of common practice between the very few schools that aggressively commercialize college athletics, roughly 100 to 150. and amateurism stretches all the way from a cross country race to notre dame football on espn. third, the, in the classroom

they transfer highly valued expertise to students. but this traditional role is reversed in big-time sports. there, athletes deliver highly valued expertise to the colleges. this distinction is basic and fundamental to your committee's stated purpose of promoting educational integrity. college athletes are or should be students in the class ram and competitor players in the athletic department. they face multiple roles and careers like many americans, but their conflicting demands cannot be balanced unless they are squarely recognized. the ncaa undermines this by insisting that sports are a supplement for a hybrid creature called the student athlete. universities implicitly concur by offloading some of their academic responsibility to the ncaa. fourth, the ncaa and member

schools strip rights from athletes uniquely as a class. no college tries to ban remunetive work for all students, and no legislature to corps would write laws to confiscate earnings from one targeted group of producers in a legitimate enterprise. on the contrary they have work-study programs and student citizens everywhere exercise freedom in pizza delivery and bookstores. for college athletes alone, the ncaa brands such industry unethical. equity. basic fairness requires attention to the rights and freedom of participants above the convenience of observers. applied to college sports, this principle would mean that no freedom should be abridged because of athletic status. while i am neither a lawyer nora

professional economist, i find ample historical evidence that experts object to collusion in the ncaa's regulatory structure. in micro economics, the prominent the textbook, they make the ncaa a featured example of an economic cartel, which reaps anti-competitive profit. the courts have agreed in two landmark cases. in ncaa versus board of regents in the university of oklahoma in 1984. they struck down the ncaa's exclusive control of college football broadcasts as an illegal restraint of trade. overnight, the schools won the freedom to sell every broadcast their markets would bear without having to share proceeds through the ncaa. we eat what we killed the bragged one official at the university of texas.

in 1998, assistant coaches won a settlement alock with an order vacating the ncaa's $16,000 limit on starting salaries. the compensation of assistant football coaches has cracked the $1 million barrier since then, with salaries skyrocketing even in non-revenue sports. by 2010, the university of florida paid its volleyball coach $365,000. thus, the supervisors of college sports have won economic freedom, and they enjoy enormous largess from a distorted cartel marketplace that shackles only the most vital talent -- the players. to reduce bargaining powers, the ncaa creates and enforces rules regarding eligibility and the terms of compensation. ncaa officials, of course, steadfastly assert that their whole system is devoted to the ed casual welfare and benefit of

the college athletes. football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people. ncaa president mark emirate sitting near me vowed when he announced sanctions for the recent scandal at penn state. such concessions must be reconciled with denying athletes from due process and representation to the presumption of innocence. these rules can turn words on their head, like alice in wonderland. the ncaa's bedrock pledge to avoid commercial exploitation of college athletes, for instance, aims to safeguard them from getting paid too much or at all, rather than too little in the ordinary usage of the word exploit. to use selfishly for one's ends as an employers who exploit their workers.

in closing, be i would suggest one hopeful precedent from the past work of your commerce committee. this is not the first time that the governance of amateur sports together with the education of college athletes has presented a daunting tangle of vested interests. the bitter feud intensified between the ncaa and aau which controlled access to the olympic games. aau leaders accused and quote, unpatriotic ncaa of sabotaging u.s. chances to win medals. they claimed that college athletes already were paid and therefore not amateurs at all since the ncaa approved scholarships in 1956. ncaa officials retorted that they were parasites on college training facilities. these two sides nit-picked and disqualified each other until president kennedy enlisted no

less a mediator than general douglas macarthur to foster homes for the 1964 tokyo olympics. it exhausted macarthur who recommended blue ribbon commissions. and the 1978 sports act came about. one key provision secured for active athletes a 20% share of the voting seats on each of the 39 new u.s. olympic committees. though small, this representation soon transformed amateur sports. granted a voice, athletes tipped the balance on governing bodies in the united states and around the globe. marathon races, then tennis tournaments recognized the right for players to accept prize money and keep their eligibility. new leagues sprung up in

volleyball. professional competitors were welcomed in every sport except boxing. by 1986 when the international olympic committee expunged the word amateurs. most people scarcely don't notice the change. some of you helped recognize success in the revised ted stevens olympic act of 1998. this example suggests a good place to start. wherever possible, make athletes true citizens, rather than glorified vassals. make them fair and competitive. uphold the rights of college athletes. give them a voice and challenge universities in turn to make wise, straightforward decisions about the compatibility of sports with education. thank you. >> thank you very much, mr. branch. and i want to be very critical

of myself. because what, the general rule around here is that the witnesses speak for five or six minutes, but i failed to make that clear. and so we just got -- >> says five minutes right here, but i wasn't watching. sorry.