Two Brown University basketball players are suing the Ivy League for its policy of not offering athletic scholarships, saying it amounts to a price-fixing agreement that denies athletes proper financial aid and payment for their services, reports the Wall Street Journal.
"The Ivy League Agreement has direct anticompetitive effects, raising the net price of education that Ivy League Athletes pay and suppressing compensation for the athletic services they provide to the University Defendants," the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut by attorneys representing Grace Kirk, a member of Brown's women’s team, and Tamenang Choh, who played for the men's team from 2017 through 2022, states.
All eight Ivy League schools provide need-based financial aid to students while all other Division I athletic programs award financial aid to recruited athletes.
The complaint alleges the inter-school pact violates federal antitrust law and hurts student athletes who could have otherwise secured scholarships to cover tuition and other expenses or been eligible for reimbursement under National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules.
The suit names all eight Ivy League schools and the Ivy League Council of Presidents as defendants.
The schools would have to compete with each other over athletic scholarship offers in absence of the agreement, in the same way they do for full-time employee compensation, the plaintiffs allege.
The suit seeks triple damages for current and former athletes dating back to March 2019 and an injunction to end the agreement to ban athletic scholarships, according to the Journal.
According to the NCAA, more than $3.7 billion in athletic scholarships are awarded annually to nearly 190,000 students at Division I and II schools, which include Stanford University and Duke University.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers say that the same rules that govern the NCAA – determined in 2021 by a Supreme Court antitrust case – should apply to the Ivy League conference as well.
On Tuesday, Ivy League Council of Presidents Executive Director Robin Harris issued a statement:
"As students and their families consider the higher education and, specifically, the intercollegiate athletics opportunities available to them, there are a wide variety of options. Each choice, including the Ivy League, represents an individual decision and carries its own distinct features and benefits.
"The Ivy League athletics model is built upon the foundational principle that student-athletes should be representative of the wider student body, including the opportunity to receive need-based financial aid. In turn, choosing and embracing that principle then provides each Ivy League student-athlete a journey that balances a world-class academic experience with the opportunity to compete in Division I athletics and ultimately paves a path for lifelong success."
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