Do you think college athletes should be classified as employees?

👍 Yes (21%) – "While this isn't how we traditionally think of student athletes, it's a way of categorizing them that deals with practical problems in their lived experiences and will help clarify the relationship between athletics and academics at the college level."

• "If money is earned from their efforts, regardless of whether it is profitable or not they should be considered an employee entitled to the rights and benefits of their employment."

💰 Only if their sports program generates a net profit (18%) – "If the schools/conferences are making money, the athletes responsible for that revenue should be compensated accordingly."

👎 No (46%) – "This is a very slippery slope. Once they become employees, they should be taxed. Many universities will most likely remove sports as very few sports actually make money and if they have to pay minimum wage, there will be no reason to have the sport. As a collegiate athlete myself, I wouldn't be who I am today if there weren't college athletics. But I also don't think I would have grown as much if I had been paid like an employee."

• "First of all, profits generated by athletes should go right back to the sports program. Scholarships, better equipment, more trainers and resources, etc. It should not be a profit for the school to use how they see fit. Second, student athletes are often still very young and deserve rights, but in a different way. There should be oversight bodies that ensure they have good working conditions, but the added work for taxation purposes, and the extra pressure if they are playing for their job will not be in the spirit of what college athletics ~should~ be."

🤷‍♀️ Unsure/other (15%) – "I do absolutely believe student athletes deserve to be paid and treated fairly, but I have concerns about the way this particular classification could affect the schools beyond their sports (like the loss of charity designation)."