This article discusses the issue of colleges revoking the scholarships of injured student athletes. It notes that Kevin Ware of Louisville suffered a horrific leg injury during the 2013 NCAA tournament but came close to losing his scholarship. Around 12,500 college athletes get injured each year, and scholarships are typically only guaranteed year-to-year, allowing schools to pull funding for injured players. The article argues that schools should be obligated to keep athletes' scholarships even if they are injured, as the athletes help generate profits for the schools. Reform is needed in college sports governing bodies to better protect injured student athletes.

1. 2 editor
Opinion Missy Corr The Torch / 10.24.2013
L ANE
COMMUNIT Y
CO L L EG E ’ S
i n d e p e n d e n t ,
s t u d e n t- r u n
n e w s p a p e r
Injured student athletes
should keep scholarships
Jarrid Denney // SPORTS EDITOR
During the 2013 NCAA Basketball
Tournament, University of Louisville
guard Kevin Ware suffered one of the
most gruesome injuries ever seen on
national television.
Millions of fans witnessed Ware’s
lower right leg bone snap in half and
protrude from his skin as he landed after
attempting to block an opposing player’s
shot.
The injury was so horrifying that it
caused several nearby teammates to col-lapse
to the floor, crying.
“The bone’s 6 inches out of his leg and
all he’s yelling is, ‘Win the game, win
the game,’” Louisville head coach Rick
Pitino said after the game. “He’s a pretty
special young man.”
After Louisville was crowned Nation-al
Champions and the story faded away
from the national spotlight, where did
that leave Ware?
Almost without a scholarship, accord-ing
to some published accounts.
Since Louisville officials have an-nounced
that Ware is on track to be
game-ready at the start of the 2013-14
season, chatter that his scholarship
might be pulled has ceased. But nothing
in National Collegiate Athletics Asso-ciation
rules would have prevented the
college from pulling Ware’s scholarship
and giving it to a healthy player.
His situation brought to light a very
serious question:
Why are colleges allowed to revoke
scholarships from injured athletes?
There are approximately 380,000
college athletes and on average,12,500
of them suffer some sort of injury every
year, according to a study done by
livestrong.com.
In most cases, scholarships are
awarded on a year-to-year basis, which
means a school is not obligated to keep
players.
It is said that “student” is supposed to
come before “athlete.” So why is it that if
injured in competition, an athlete loses
the privilege of being a student?
This issue has gained attention at the
major university level, but it is occur-ring
at colleges of all sizes all over the
country.
Coaches have little control over the
situation.
They are given a limited number of
scholarships to work with and no mat-ter
how much they may care about an
athlete’s well-being, it is still their job
to do what is in the best interest of the
program.
Blame needs to be attributed to the
governing bodies of college athletics.
Whether it be the NCAA, the NAIA or
the NWAACC, change is needed at all
levels of college sports.
Schools should be held responsible for
the athletes they profit off of, and that
starts with protecting those injured in
competition.
A full-ride scholarship should mean
just that. If a school promises an athlete
that their tuition will be paid for as long
as they are attending that school, then
that promise needs to be kept, whether
the athlete is healthy or not.
ASK A TITAN
Q: How did the government shoudown affect you?
It didn’t really affect
me that much person-ally,
but I think it has
had some negative ef-fects.
My friend, just the
other day, was talking
about how a lot of trees
are cut down in Yosemite
National Park … because
there was no one there to
monitor the park and so
a lot of (trees) got clear-cut.
That is pretty ter-rible
that stuff like that
was allowed to happen
because the government
shut down.
— Joshua Francowiak
Keoni conlu // REPORTER
I am a Native
American and a
tribal member. I was
expecting money
from my tribe when
I turned 18, but as
the government shut
down, I was unable
to accept the funds
because the (U.S.
Bureau of Indian Af-fairs)
was closed as
well.
— Sissiliya
Colegroue
There was a (web-site)
closed due to it
and I had to do my
homework on it. That
was frustrating, but
we had to write it out
so I got around it.
But it was annoying.
— Nicole Davis
I don’t think it
has really affected
me. I don’t know. I
don’t watch the news
or anything. I don’t
keep track of that
stuff so I can’t even
tell personally.
— Will
Parmenter
In the Oct. 17 issue of The Torch, we misspelled Lane art
and photography instructor John Watson’s name in “Walker
shows at Dot Dotson’s.” The Torch regrets this error. CORRECTION:
STAFF//
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF//
Missy Corr
DESIGN EDITOR//
Char Houweling
Stephanie Orndorff
NEWS EDITOR//
Mohammed Alkhadher
COPY EDITOR//
Sean Hanson
SPORTS EDITOR//
Jarrid Denney
PHOTO EDITOR//
Alyssa Leslie
PHOTOGRAPHERS//
Zora Parker
Marilyn Vittetoe
Hana Behrs
RESEARCHER//
Crystal Kingery
REPORTERS//
Keoni Conlu
Jeffrey Cramer
GRAPHIC ARTIST//
Connor White
NEWS & EDITORIAL ADVISER//
Paige Parker
PRODUCTION ADVISER//
Dorothy Wearne
POLICY//
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