To provide adequate resources to professionals on the ground. We must also continue pressing for comprehensive Immigration Reform so that our system will not be so overwhelmed in times like these. I yield the obama told reporters he urged perry to press texas lawmakers and the u. S. Congress to support the whitehouses funding request. The president rejected criticism saying he didnt visit the border saying quote this isnt a theater. This is a problem. The head of the ncaa is questioned about the treatment of College Athletes and the profits generated from sports. That is next. Then a look at the Russia Ukraine conflict. And later a ceremony for a former swiss diplomat who is awarded the congressional gold medal for his humanitarian efforts during world war ii. Tune in for the harlem book fair this weekend. Live coverage starts this weekend saturday morning. Mark emmert testified about College Athletes and academics and he is joined by Taylor Branch and two formal College Football players. Topics include the quality of Education Student athletes get, whether cleanly athletes should be paid, and sports safety. Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia chairs the Senate Commerce committee. Thank you for coming here. You are a bit squeezed in there. But water is on the house. Be comfortable and be glad. College sports have long held a special place at the heart of american culture. Not only have College Sports inspired deep passion in fans all across the country, but they have provided an important way for young men and women to get a College Education. For many young people, athletics have provided an avenue to college that wouldnt otherwise exist. College athletics are rooted in the notion of amateurism. Playing College Sports is supposed to be an avocation. Students play College Sports for the love of the game not love of money. Thats the ideal. But many people believe this notion of College Sports is being undermined by the power and influence of money. I remember a meeting with the top espn people and i didnt say a word because they went around in circles talking about the Business Model they had and they had the control and power that no other broadcast system would ever have and how thrilled they were and make it even stronger. And influence of money. Theres a growing perception that College Athletics particularly division i football and basketball are hardly avocations at all. What they really are is highly profitable commercial enterprises. Critics of bigtime College Athletics say that the goal of these programs is not to provide young people with a College Education, but to produce a Winning Program that reaps financial rewards for Athletic Departments and their schools. Its not about the students. Its about capturing the billions of dollars of television and marketing revenues that College Sports generate. Colleges and universities say that these revenues benefit College Athletes and their student bodies at large. But i think we have to consider whether the lure of such riches could corrupt the basic mission of Athletic Programs. Winning teams get higher payouts than losing teams which creates a strong incentives to win at any cost. And much of the money is often funneled right back into those sports programs, in the form of multiMillion Dollar coaching salaries and state of the art facilities to perpetuate that cycle of winning. I think somewhere in my reading here about 48 million of all of the 900 million that ncaa gets from their broadcasting of march madness and all of the rest a very small portion goes specifically to academics and that is hard to figure because no body has the figures. Mr. Emmert works there them. They make the decisions. He carries out what they want and i think the subject of discussion is how does he carry out and what powers do you have for carrying out what you think is a good idea. You have been president at three major universities, different places, and i would think your passion for education would show itself. Athletics are meant to serve schools and their public duty to educate students, not the other way around. Dr. Mark emmert is here to present the perspective of the colleges and universities that belong to the National CollegiateAthletic Association ncaa . Dr. Emmert, i would like to thank you for testifying here today. Youktd have you could you could have declined to do so but you didnt. So i am grateful for that. I believe you were put at the helm of the ncaa because you have impressive academic credentials and a sterling reputation. And i think we all appreciate that you are extremely well compensated. Your commendable individual qualities and capabilities are not what trouble me. I think i am just very skeptical that the ncaa can ever live up to the lofty mission that you constantly tout. It is written in printed and speeches and sponsors. The mission nothing comes before education is always there but the action is never there. I dont see how a multibillion dollar commercial enterprise can merely be an amateur pursuit. I dont see how the ncaa will ever be capable of truly making a safe, quality educational experience for students their number one priority. I want you to tell me i am wrong and i am particularly wrong about the future. But i will be a tough sell. I think we believe the ncaa has been left to its own to determine what reforms that are aleft to their own. As we continue to learn more about what goes on at some major universities and colleges, we want to know if the ncaa is seriously considering how College Athletes are faring under this system. Not just living as they do but injured as they often become, racked by poverty if they dont do well and maybe their stipens are cut off and there is an advantage of a mandated fouryear scholarship. All of these things are put on play. How are the young men who strap on their helmets on a football field in front of a hundred thousand passionate and paying customers how are they doing . How are the young men who lace up their shoes and step onto a court in front of millions of Television Viewers in march how are they benefiting from this system . Are colleges and universities living up to their end of the bargain and providing them with a quality education . Are these Young Athletes entitled to any of the billions of dollars that are reaped from their Athletic Services . And when young men and women put their bodies at risk from playing sports for their schools whether its womens lacrosse or mens soccer do they have Adequate Health insurance . I dont know and i never go into a restaurant or a barbershop without asking sometimes to their discomfort do you have Health Insurance because i know the answer is going to be no. I care about health care and i am very happy when people who work in places and dont make a lot of money dont have Health Insurance. Do the schools and athletic leagues sufficiently minimize the risk of concussions . And what happens to a student who is injured before graduation can he or she finish out his studies or does his scholarship run dry . A couple months ago, we all heard the deeply troubling comments of shabazz napier, the talented university of connecticut guard who was the most valuable player of the 2014 ncaa basketball tournament. In the midst of a tournament that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues for the ncaa and its members, mr. Napier talked about how he sometimes did not have enough to eat during college. How did College Sports benefit mr. Napier on the nights he had to go to bed starving . You can look at that two ways. I am not trying to it into a huge problem, but i think it is a problem. The whole sense of giving students a safety net and a sense of confidence that if they dont turn out to be good running backs or point guards and dont make the team or are let off in their third year are they dropped or what happens . I dont know. The title of todays hearing is promoting the wellbeing and academic success of College Athletes. I want to have an objective, openminded, and frank discussion on this subject. The National CollegiateAthletics Association ncaa has the same stated goal as i do. As dr. Emmert is going to tell us, the ncaas mission is to protect College Athletes from abusive practices and exploitation and to promote College Sports as a means toward achieving academic excellence. Today, i want to explore whether the ncaa is fulfilling its mission. We still hear too many reports of fraudulent academics. We still hear too many tragic stories of former College Athletes who have absolutely nothing to show for the services they provided to their Schools Services that generated millions upon millions of dollars. I am going to have some tough questions for our panel. If per chance the democrats will control the Congress Next time, and no one is sure of that, thune has one idea and nelson another, but i think we want to continue this. We want to make this a continuing surge of this oversight committee. We have jurisdiction over all sports. And we have the ability to subpoena, we have the ability to we have created a special investigations unit. We are very into this subject. I personal am and i think others are. Is the ncaa and its member schools simply a legal cartel . Have College Sports become a multibillion dollar commercial enterprise which is no different than the other corporate witnesses who have appeared before this committee . Or is the ncaa truly different, and does the 100yearold organization, in fact, further the best interests of College Athletes . Are their proposed reforms enough . In my personal estimation, most of these reforms are indisputably far too long in coming. I want to thank our very distinguished panel before us today. I truly appreciate that you have agreed to appear before this committee to have a very serious and overdue public discussion on the wellbeing of College Athletes and the state of College Sports. Thank you, mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing to examine the current state of collegiate athletics, and i appreciate our witnesses for appearing here today. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses, including the president of the National CollegiateAthletic Association ncaa , on how the ncaa and its Member Institutions are fulfilling the commitments made to our collegiate studentathletes. I am an avid sports fan, and i know that other members of this committee are too. As a basketball player in high school and college, and the proud father of a daughter who competed at the division i level, i certainly recognize that participation in organized sports not only requires physical and mental strength, but also teaches teamwork and other skills that serve you throughout life. However, the College Studentathlete is and should be a student first. Colleges and universities must remember and prioritize their academic obligation to studentathletes. As the popularity of College Sports has grown particularly the popularity of College Football and mens and Womens Basketball so too has the profitability of many collegiate Athletic Programs. In the current environment, the stakes have been raised both for the studentathlete who wants to succeed and for the university that has a financial interest in winning games. Increasing revenues for some schools and conferences due in large part to lucrative contracts for the broadcast rights to football and basketball games have become more common. Revenues from ticket sales and merchandizing efforts, for some schools, are also significant. And, of course, alumni want to see their teams win and may be inspired to contribute to Winning Programs. As well hear today, the ncaa is a memberdriven organization whose stated mission is to integrate Intercollegiate Athletics into Higher Education so that the educational experience of the studentathlete is paramount. However, a major criticism of College Sports is that some institutions appear unable to balance the core Academic Mission of the university and the commercial considerations that often accompany College Athletics, particularly in highprofile sports. Many feel the commitment to the studentathlete is falling short. Another point of contention involves athletic scholarships, and whether the practice of offering annual, as opposed to multiyear, scholarships unfairly places studentathletes at risk of losing their scholarships as a result of poorperformance or injury. But while multiyear scholarships may benefit studentathletes, they may disadvantage smaller schools who cant match the resources of larger institutions. Clearly, collegiate athletics in america is not without controversy, and we will hear from some of the ncaas most vocal critics today. While i am sure that todays hearing will highlight a host of important issues, i hope we will not lose sight of the positive impact that amateur athletics has made on the lives of countless studentathletes. And we must remember that College Athletics is not just about football and basketball. The director of athletics at the university of south dakota usd recently shared the results of the studentathlete exit interviews he conducts annually to evaluate the schools Athletic Program from the Vantage Point of the athletes themselves. He underscored two stories that stood out from this past years athletes. The Athletic Director at usd reiterated how dustin gens, a sophomore diver at usd, recovered from openheart heart surgery to qualify to dive at the ncaa zone championships a feat that would not have been possible without the work of a dedicated training staff, academic support, coaches, team, and family. He also noted the moving story of hanna veselik, a sophomore swimmer, who leaned on friends, family, and teammates to help her through the tragic loss of her father, who passed away early in the season. With this support, hanna was able to return to the pool and achieve lifetime best times in all of her swimming events at the Summit League championships. As the usd Athletic Director puts it, these two are just a sample of what College Athletics should mean. If you strip away the money, fancy locker rooms, charter flights, and large budgets, youre left with studentathletes who often have to overcome personal, social, economic, academic, and athletic adversity. All just to compete. But they frequently do it with passion and a determination that makes us all proud. Recognizing that challenges exist, it is my hope that the ncaa, its Member Institutions, the studentathletes themselves, and other stakeholders will Seek Solutions that promote the education, health, and wellbeing of studentathletes and seek to preserve amateurism in collegiate athletics. This is an area where congress can provide a forum but the solutions are most likely to come from those most directly involved in the education and development of studentathletes. Mr. Chairman, thank you again for holding this hearing, and i look forward to hearing from our witnesses. Thank you, sir. What we are going to do now is hear the testimony. And then both senator mccaskill and senator booker, both of whom are sterling and wonderful people are going to get very angry at me because i am going to charge in the regular order and i am going to allow senator coats to ask the first question which violates all of the rules of the committee. I am mad. As the most Junior Member on the committee i must say the senate rules do not allow me to to be mad at you, mr. Chairman. I was under the impression we were on the first to arrive and ask questions in order so i arrived at 2 10 so i could be first because i didnt want to put you in a bad spot and breach the rules. You never do and you are wonderful. So you will have the first questions after the two of us. Okay. Thank you for being here and this is a wonderful opportunity to s