Law, Policy, & Governance

The Law, Policy, and Governance competency area includes the knowledge, skills, and dispositions relating to policy development processes used in various contexts, the application of legal constructs, compliance/policy issues, and the understanding of governance structures and their impact on one’s professional practice. (ACPA & NASPA, 2015).

In July 2021, the NCAA reversed its name, image, likeness (NIL) policy and allowed student-athletes to profit from the commercial use of their NIL. This change happened in response to a wave of state laws that directly opposed the NCAA regulation and forced them to update the policy. Now, almost two years later, there is still a patchwork of mismatching state laws, only provisionary NCAA guidelines on the subject, and a growing threat of federal intervention. In short, it has been a very interesting time to be both working in NIL and studying college athletics governance. Law, policy, and governance (LPG) are extremely pressing because the laws and policies themselves have not been figured out.

The lack of clear, consistent rules has turned working in NIL into a frustrating maze of regulations. Even something as common as one student-athlete looking to create their own t-shirt requires coordination between their representation, the Department of Licensing, the Athletics Compliance office, Athletics Marketing office, etc. While I have been careful to navigate these challenges, it has greatly helped to study law, policy, and governance in higher education throughout the graduate program. Courses such as EDLF 5425 Governance of Collegiate Athletics, EDLF 5410 Strategy in Higher Education and Intercollegiate Athletics, and EDLF 7132 Legal Aspects of College Administration have provided reassuring context. These classes have made it clear that NIL is not a uniquely complicated issue for higher education, only the most recent.

Two of the advanced skills associated with LPG stand out. One, “critically examine policy compliance and development efforts related to programs, practices, and services to ensure that they promote social justice, equality and inclusivity.” Policy compliance is at the forefront of everything that I do with Cav Futures (UVA’s NIL partner organization). The institutional policies, state laws, and national guidelines are not only different, but ever-changing. It is my responsibility to state up-to-date and knowledgeable about all of the fluid rules so that I can effectively advise student-athletes on their NIL activities, and ensure that Cav Futures does not make a misstep that puts students or the university in a bad light.

Two, “participate effectively in the governance system of one’s institution when appropriate.” The first step to participating in the governance system is to question it. While enrolled in EDLF 5410 Strategy in Higher Education and Intercollegiate Athletics, I became fascinated with the role of university presidents in this new, hyper-commercialized era of college sports. Up until recently, the NCAA has exercised a lot of control over the industry, but this has been chipped away by antitrust lawsuits and criticisms of their lack of support for student-athletes. I decided to dedicate my term paper to exploring why presidents have not yet taken on a more decisive role when it comes to governing college sports, specifically NIL. Ultimately, I found that presidents are hesitant because universities face similar legal constraints as the NCAA, and presidents are self-interested leaders looking to gain a competitive advantage for their organization.

Higher education is a complicated industry. I have heard college athletics referred to as “schizophrenic” because it is caught between a non-profit educational model, and its evolving commercial purpose. I think the same can be applied to higher education as a whole. New challenges will continue to result in new regulations and legal hurdles, so it is imperative for higher ed professionals to maintain a working knowledge of the policies that affect their day-to-day.