Ethical Responsibility and the College Athlete

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Ethical Responsibility and the College Athlete Every year approximately 430,000 student athletes enroll in colleges across the country (NCAA National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2013). Many of these students are alone for the first time and must make ethical decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. The student athletes are influenced by their coaches, fellow student athletes, professors, and outside individuals seeking to gain profit from the student athletes will influence the athletes. A panel moderated by John Seigenthaler met to discuss the current state of college athletics, and the roll of responsibility within the college. The panel is composed of five members. Troy Vincent is a former student athlete and former National Football League player. Johnette Howard is an ESPN columnist in New York. Bill Rhoden is a columnist for the New York Times. Gary Walters is an athletic director at Princeton University, and Bill Duffy is a National Basketball Association agent (Seigenthaler, 2011). This is a diverse group of people who agree there are several ethical problems that student athletes encounter while they are in college. Troy Vincent believes fellow student athletes influence the ethical decisions of other student athletes (Seigenthaler, 2011). Vincent states colleges separate student athletes from other students and housed in dormitories with other student athletes (Seigenthaler, 2011). Vincent believes there is no balance in the way the student athlete views life because he or she is interacting with people who think alike (Seigenthaler, 2011). Bill Rhoden thinks college athletics are at a point where people are questioning if college athletics takes away from a student athlete’s character, or builds their character (Seigenthaler, 2011). Gary Waters thinks athletics are a great way for some students to go to college, but states the amount of

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