Kevin addresses a post by Eugene Volokh concerning college athletics. It seems that Kevin and Eugene identify the problems pretty well, but fail to grasp the most obvious solution—have colleges actually treat sports as an extracurricular and stop offering any sort of inducement to play (slightly simplistic–some other extracurriculars offer scholarships).
But really, what is the purpose of an athletic scholarship? I understand the purpose of athletics, but I have no idea how athletic scholarships promote the missions of universities. When someone can answer that question, I’ll support the existence of athletic scholarships.
Universities have no responsibility to take care of young athletes as Eugene suggests. If someone wants to be an athlete–join an athletic organization, not a university. There is no reason for a university to be involved in the education of a student at another institution simply to provide an athletic opportunity.
Athletics are important to building character, teamwork skills and a variety of important skills, but they aren’t part of the mission of the university, the are a feature to help achieve the universities’ missions. As such, there is no point to athletic scholarships.