WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, along with Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance, and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), today sent letters to the presidents of the 65 institutions that make up the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) “Big Five” conferences seeking answers on the treatment of their student-athletes.

“It is clear to even the most casual observer, that college sports, particularly Division I football and basketball, more resemble a multibillion-dollar business rather than an extracurricular activity merely complementing academics in the classroom,” wrote the Senators in their letter. “We have grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of meaningful progress by the NCAA and its member institutions. The lack of protection and the needs of many student-athletes have continued to go unaddressed. Reports of academic fraud, lack of due process, inadequate health care coverage, and financial insecurity have become all too common in intercollegiate athletics today.”

The letter follows the Committee’s July hearing on the well-being and academic success of college athletes, which sought explanations for the weak protections currently given to student-athletes. At the hearing, NCAA president Dr. Mark Emmert called university presidents at the NCAA’s member institutions the “ultimate decision makers within the association.” Since the hearing, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors voted on August 7, 2014 to give the Big Five conference schools greater autonomy to implement reforms on behalf of their student athletes. The Big Five includes the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, Pac-12, and ACC conferences.

Citing this new authority, the Senators today wrote to the presidents of the 65 member universities of the Big Five conferences asking for their response to several questions in ten areas: (1) multi-year scholarships, (2) completion of coursework, (3) health care, (4) concussions, (5) time limitations on athletic activity, (6) academic progress, (7) cost of attendance, (8) financial compensation, (9) due process, and (10) interpersonal violence.

“As the president of a member institution of one of the Big Five conferences, you now possess the authority that Dr. Emmert claimed was necessary to implement real, meaningful reforms to protect student-athletes from commercial exploitation. You can now provide these young men and women with the tools they need to acquire a college education and succeed both on and off the field,”wrote the Senators in their letter.

For years, Rockefeller has been an outspoken critic of the NCAA and the commercial exploitation of college athletes. Today’s letters build on his work along with McCaskill and Booker, to better protect student-athletes, including a May letter that Rockefeller, MCaskill, and Booker wrote to the NCAA asking about the organization’s policies and its oversight of member institutions so that student athletes can be protected from potential exploitation.

For a PDF of the letter, click here.

Below is a full list of the 65 schools who will receive letters.

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