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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD VOLUME CLVIII, ISSUE 19

FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2023

UNIVERSITY NEWS

U. athletes sue Ivies over lack of scholarships Students claim Ivy League breaks antitrust laws by not offering athletic scholarships

DANA RICHIE / HERALD

The complaint draws on the 2021 National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston Supreme Court case. suit of top faculty, grants or media attention,” they agree to not compete when recruiting college athletes by failing to offer specific scholarships and reimbursements for education expenses. According to the complaint, this violates the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which protects “trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies.” The Sherman Act “prohibits competing businesses, including colleges, from colluding in ways that harm competition,” Mc-

Paxson elected to board of college advocacy group

BY KATIE JAIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER The American Council on Education announced the election of University President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 to its board of directors for a three-year term March 2, according to a University press release. Paxson was elected to the board of the organization — which is composed of more than 1,700 colleges and universities — during a recent ACE business meeting, according to a press release from the group. Founded in 1918, ACE serves as an advocacy organization for higher education institutions in the U.S, according to their website, lobbying and producing research to “improve equity, expand access to our colleges and universities, and diversify the higher education leadership pipeline.” “It’s a privilege to serve an or-

Students rally for changes to U. admissions policies

BY NEIL MEHTA UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Paxson will begin three-year term for American Council on Education in April

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Rally calls for testoptional admissions, end to legacy preferences

BY JULIA VAZ METRO EDITOR A class action lawsuit filed Tuesday by current and former Brown basketball players Grace Kirk ’24 and Tamenang Choh ’21 MPA’22 alleges that Ivy League schools violate antitrust laws by denying student athletes athletic scholarships and compensation for their services. The lawsuit claims that the alleged price-fixing “Ivy League Agreement” has “anticompetitive effects, raising the net price of education that Ivy League athletes pay and suppressing compensation for the athletic services they provide to the University Defendants.” According to Michael McCann, director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute at the University of New Hampshire, the plaintiffs’ argument is that “while Ivy League schools compete (with each other) in numerous ways, such as in pur-

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ganization with a strong record of working across all sectors of higher education to shape policy and support innovation,” Paxson wrote in an email to The Herald. Paxson and the other presidents and chancellors elected to the board will begin their terms after the organization’s annual April meeting in Washington, D.C., according to the ACE press release. The board, composed of 24 elected members and 13 representatives from designated organizations, will be chaired by Linda Livingstone, president of Baylor University and the current vice chair of the board. Paxson will join the board along with the presidents of the University of Washington, the University of Nebraska system, Swarthmore College and a number of other colleges for a term ending in September 2026. “I look forward to working with (Livingstone) and other members of the board to confront the challenges and opportunities facing educational institutions,” Paxson

SEE PAXSON PAGE 4

Cann wrote in an email to The Herald. The lawsuit builds on the 2021 National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston Supreme Court case, which ruled that colleges that “join hands to prevent any individual college from paying their athletes for education-related expenses” violate antitrust law, McCann wrote. “The restrictions on price competition that lie at the heart of this case are analogous to other restrictions

SEE LAWSUIT PAGE 8

Over 100 students gathered on the Main Green Thursday, calling for the University to end legacy admissions and move to a test-optional admissions process. “What matters? Race matters,” the students shouted. The rally, led by Students for Educational Equity and the Undergraduate Council of Students’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, was organized ahead of the Supreme Court’s expected decision to overturn affirmative action later this year. “Our diversity is our strength,” said Niyanta Nepal ’25, SEE co-president, to the crowd at the rally. “Affirmative action is a

critical tool in this effort, as it allows us to level the playing field for historically underrepresented communities.” In the possible absence of affirmative action, Nepal called for the University to permanently commit to test-optional admissions, a policy that has been temporarily in place for prospective undergraduates since the 2020-2021 admission cycle. Nepal also called for the University to abolish legacy admissions, which allows admission officers to consider whether an applicant’s family members attended the University. The policy “has no place in our university,” she said. Legacy admissions rob “seats from systematically marginalized populations,” according to former SEE co-President Zoë Fuad ’23.5. “It is far past time to end this archaic policy.” Speakers such as SEE co-President Jada Wooten ’24 highlight-

SEE RALLY PAGE 7

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Bolsen ’26 wins Jeopardy! tournament First-year takes home $100,000, advances to Tournament of Champions BY SOFIA BARNETT UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR Justin Bolsen ’26 has been keeping a six-figure secret for a month. On Thursday night, the pre-taped final episode of Jeopardy!’s high school reunion tournament aired. Bolsen emerged victorious, winning the $100,000 grand prize and a spot in the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions this fall, where he will be the youngest player in the game, according to a Jeopardy! press release. Bound by confidentiality until the episode aired, Bolsen told The Herald that obscuring his victory from family and friends wasn’t easy — though it was still less of a challenge than during his first run on the show in 2019. “It’s been crazy keeping this from everyone for a month,” he said. “I’ve even kept it from my parents.” “People have been trying to get it out of me since I’ve been back, but I’ve been misleading them and trying to throw them off the whole time,” Bolsen added.

Metro

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Pre-college program offers full scholarships to PPSD students Page 5

Jack Seppings ’25 joins Great Britain in World Baseball Classic Page 5

The Bruno Brief explores tunnels underneath Providence Page 8

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Thursday’s game was the second part of a two-round tournament finale that featured Justin Bolsen ’26, Jackson Jones and Maya Wright. Thursday’s episode was part of a two-round tournament finale with Bolsen, Jackson Jones, a Vanderbilt University junior and Maya Wright, an Emory University senior. The tournament’s victor was determined based on which student had the highest combined score from both games. Bolsen was down by roughly $10,000 at the end of the first part

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of the finale, which aired Wednesday night. “It was crazy. I missed the final Jeopardy! question,” he said. “It was a state capital question: What is Dover?” Bolsen’s margin of victory over Jones in Thursday’s game was just $363, which hinged on a successful

SEE JEOPARDY PAGE 5

TOMORROW

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