Drexel University: College Athletes’ Rights Conference

At Drexel University, the conference will begin Thursday, March 24 from 4-8 p.m., the evening before the NCAA Division I men’s basketball regionals, at the National Constitution Center, a national stage for dialogue about constitutional rights.  Starting at 5:00pm, keynote addresses will be delivered by the New York Times’ Joe Nocera, who will speak about the new book he co-authored, “Indentured: The Inside Story of the Rebellion Against the NCAA”; and Harry Edwards, PhD, on college athletes’ rights as civil rights. At 6:30 p.m., a panel on college athletes’ rights for the 21st century will include Taylor Branch (Pulitzer prize winning author, The Shame of College Sports), Ramogi Huma (National College Players Association), Kain Colter (pro football player with the Los Angeles Rams and College Athletes Players Association), Ed O’Bannon (lead plaintiff in O’Bannon v. NCAA) and Billy Hawkins (professor, author of The New Plantation), moderated by ESPN’s Kevin Blackistone.

The second day of the conference, Friday, March 25, from 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., will be held at Drexel’s Gerri C. LeBow Hall. It will include an address by Sonny Vaccaro, the former marketing executive for Nike, Adidas and Reebok; and an interactive dialogue lead by Jeff Prudhomme, vice president and fellow of the Interactivity Foundation; as well as panel discussions on challenging power dynamics, college athlete activism (Grace Yan & Nicolaus Watanabe, University of Missouri & Ann Pegararo, Laurentian University), rethinking player representation models (Richard Southall, University of South Carolina; Michele Donnelly, Kent State, Ivan Soto, Arena Football League Players Association) and helping college athletes access their own voices (Eddie Comeaux, University of California-Riverside; Ellen J. Staurowsky, Drexel).

The final day of the conference, Saturday, March 26, from 8 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., also will take place at Gerri C. LeBow Hall. A debate on whether or not the NCAA should be afforded an antitrust exemption will feature Marc Edelman (law professor, City University of NY and sport business writer, Forbes.com); Donna Lopiano (Sport Management Resources), Joel Maxcy (Drexel Sport Economist) and Andrew Zimbalist(Smith College Sport Economist). The conference will close with a panel on college athletes, the NCAA and due process. Panelists include Matt Haverstick(Kleinbard LLC & plaintiff’s attorney in Corman v. NCAA); Richard Johnson(plaintiff’s attorney in Oliver v. NCAA), Steven Silver (McBreen & Kopko and co-founder, The Legal Blitz) and Ben Strauss (New York Times).

Here is a link to registration site. Finally, more information about the conference and a full schedule is available here.