[
THE SCOOP] lifestyles
Giving Student- Athletes a Voice
Injuries forced NCAA SAAC chair Maddie Salamone to cut her lacrosse career short, but she’s found solace in representing her peers
A
t the NCAA Convention in January in San Diego, there were some big-ticket items up for discussion, most centered around the fundamental reshaping of the association’s Division I governance structure.
Many different constituencies were represented in a new, proposed high- level council that would do the day- to-day work in a new NCAA, but one very important point of view in a draft document was missing. NCAA Student- Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) chair Maddie Salamone, who played her senior lacrosse season at Duke last spring, addressed a room of about 800 administrators and raised that point loud and clear.
What statement did you make on behalf of SAAC at the NCAA Convention?
There has been a lot of rhetoric that student-athletes’ well-being is the most important concern. My challenge to [the NCAA steering committee] is that we are all hungry for some meaningful change. Part of that change must be to include student-athletes at the highest level of governance, because we are the ones who are affected by the rules 365 days a year, 24 hours a day... Omitting student-athletes and SAAC from this chart has left student-athletes in the position of being added only as an afterthought, leaving the impression that the student-athlete voice is not as
28 LACROSSE MAGAZINE March 2014 >> A Publication of US Lacrosse
meaningful as we have been led to believe in the past.
There seems to be a movement toward allowing Division I schools to cover full cost of attendance for student- athletes, is that right? That’s one of the things gaining momentum. There are costs above and beyond just the cost of
attendance, and that’s been acknowledged across the board. I’m not sure that paying players is the answer. But paying the actual cost of living based on whatever each school decides, that would be benefi cial.
That’s for all sports?
They would have to work that out with certain equivalency sports, like lacrosse, where people are getting partial scholarships. But yes, the idea is to apply it to all sports.
What is SAAC?
I joined in my sophomore year of college. SAAC is a group of 31 members, each representing the 31 Division I conferences within the NCAA. We serve in an advisory role. We seek feedback from student-athletes within our conferences and campuses to provide feedback to the [NCAA] on legislative proposals or anything that concerns the well- being of student- athletes. We have members from our committee on each
cabinet and a committee within the NCAA.
©NCAA IMAGES; ©PETE CLAWSON (DUKE)
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