The document is a 3,000 word essay analyzing the distribution of power at SEC universities through the lens of Iris Young's theory of social justice. It uses the University of Missouri protests in 2015 and Williams-Brice Stadium at the University of South Carolina as examples. The essay argues that SEC football generates substantial revenue for universities, awarding football players more power and opportunity than other students. However, Young's model advocates equal distribution of non-material goods like power, which is not followed. The protests were only successful because the football team joined, showing they had more influence due to the money/power their sport generates. In conclusion, Young's theory cannot be fully applied to SEC schools where certain students have disproportionate power and influence

1. Mary Wilbur
Professor Cynthia Bateman
SAEL 200
Mediating Ethics Essay
7 December 2016
Distribution of Power at South Eastern Conference Universities
Imagine it is a Saturday down South. You have put together your best outfit in your
home-team’s colors and you are headed to watch your favorite South Eastern Conference,
also known as SEC, team play a conference game. For those not familiar with football lingo,
that means that two football teams fighting for the coveted number one spot in the SEC
rankings are playing each other. The team that wins this game will be ranked higher and
will have bragging rights throughout the SEC. The winning team will also likely increase
their bowl eligibility, which means an extra game during the holiday season for us as the
fans to watch. Then you drive through horrific game-day traffic to the spot closest to the
University of South Carolina football monument that they call “Williams Brice Stadium.”
While tailgating you take photos with this massive stadium that holds 80,250 people as the
backdrop. (Williams-Brice Stadium Facts) Now imagine you are in Columbia, Missouri, it is
the same weekend, and you are supposed to be tailgating and cheering on the Mizzou
Tigers; however, your outfit is hung up in the closet and the stadium is a ghost town. This is
because the players at the University of Missouri have refused to play because the
President of the University has yet to step down. This is a hypothetical situation based off
the incident at the University of Missouri earlier this year. My essay will explain how it is
the case that by looking at the grandeur of Williams-Brice Stadium and the revenue that is

2. generated by this arena, we can understand why the University of Missouri Football team’s
refusal to play or practice brought enough attention to the issue of racial inequality at the
University of Missouri, and this is significant because SEC football is a prime example of the
lack of social justice in our society. I will do this while considering Young’s Displacing the
Distributed Paradigm.
The South Eastern Conference is as defines itself on its website as “Since its
formation in 1933, the SEC has directed and organized interscholastic athletic
competitions, conducted tournaments and prescribed eligibility rules for student-athletes.
The Conference also facilitates and assists its member institutions in maintaining
intercollegiate athletic programs compatible with the highest standards of education and
competitive sports.” The SEC has fourteen Universities in the conference and is arguably
the best conference for college football. There are twenty-one women and men’s’ sports
represented in the SEC. (About the Southeastern Conference)
Williams-Brice Stadium on game days is more than just some cement and bleachers
to most of the spectators. I think of it as a place to have a great time with my friends and
family, while cheering on our Gamecocks through the ups and as of recently, the many
downs. This year we had a losing season and our football coach stepped down; however,
every home game had the same excitement to myself and many other loyal fans. In order to
construct this stadium, tax laws had to be stretched, and a former football player for the
University donated $3.5 million. (Kendall) After this initial donation, there were many large
improvements made to the stadium, which cost millions of dollars each. (Williams-Brice
Stadium Facts) Williams-Brice Stadium is a place where families and friends gather to
watch the Gamecocks on many fall Saturdays.

3. The University of Missouri’s football program has been in the news recently because
their refusal to play or practice forced the president of the university to resign. A few
notable points about this case are: An African American, Jonathan Butler, student started a
hunger strike prior to the football players’ strike; this strike was in response to racial
inequality on Mizzou’s campus; and the football players were striking in order to force the
president of the University to resign. The result of this strike by the football team caused so
much attention to be brought to the University of Missouri. Everyone from presidential
candidates to former University of Missouri football players have commented on the event.
Most of these comments are surrounding the issues of racial inequality, which is a form of
social justice. The students who are upset about racial inequality at the University of
Missouri are fighting for equality of a nonmaterial good. The nonmaterial good that these
students are specifically advocating for in these strikes is respect; however, in striving
equal distribution of this nonmaterial good, the students are sacrificing equal distribution
of another nonmaterial good, power.
Young writes in “Displacing the Distributive Paradigm,” about the concept of social
justice. She describes the distributive model of social justice as the distribution of
nonmaterial goods. (Young 16) These nonmaterial goods include: decision-making power,
division of labor, power, opportunity, and self-respect. In the case of SEC universities, I
would argue the distribution of power is based off the money that programs generate for
the school. By Young’s model this would be done differently, power would be distributed
equally among all the students at the university. However, this is not the case, both the
University of South Carolina and the University of Missouri are SEC schools. At both
schools, the football program brings in a lot of money for their respective school. The issue

4. with the distribution of power based off of Young’s theory is the students are not given an
equal distribution of power, but instead these universities are giving access to power based
off of the money that these players are generating for the school.
Some may say that this is an issue that was worth advocating for, and I agree with
that statement. There is obviously a discrimination problem at the University of Missouri
(evident by the swastika drawn on a door at the university); however, the actions of
Jonathan Butler, the student who I mentioned earlier, and others like him, who went on a
hunger strike with the same end goal as the players should have been just as effective as
the actions of the students who play football if Young’s theory was in practice at the
University of Missouri.
The irony of what I have stated about the football players generating money for the
school, which in turn gives them more access to power at SEC schools is that football
players are given more of an opportunity for success at these schools. Williams-Brice
stadium at the University of South Carolina can hold 80,250 people according to the
University of South Carolina’s Official site, which makes the stadium the forth-largest city in
the state on Gameday (Kendall), and that is not including the thousands of people who
gather around the stadium solely to tailgate. Forbes reports that in 2011 and 2012, the
University South Carolina spent $22,063,216 on Gamecock football, and generated
$48,065,096 in revenue. (Jessop) There is no other sport at the University of South Carolina
that has that much money that is being spent on it, but many would argue that this is
because it is the culture of SEC schools, which as I explained in my hypothetical story
earlier in this essay is part of the culture of myself and many other people who live in the
South. Many would argue that a good football program draws students to the university, in

5. turn generating even more money for the University than what is listed in Forbes
calculations. This money is not distributed to the football players, but instead the football
players receive their payment in power, opportunity, and respect. Young asks us to,
“Consider educational opportunity…providing educational opportunity certainly entails
allocating specific material resources-money, buildings, books, computers, and so on.”
(Young 26) As a student not affiliated with the SEC sports at the University of South
Carolina, I like Jonathan Butler am not awarded the same privileges that athletes are
awarded. The SEC Website includes in its about page that academics are important to the
conference and includes the academic accomplishments of SEC athletes. I have friends and
colleges who are on these teams at the University of South Carolina, and they have told me
some of the perks that being an SEC athlete award them. They are allowed to register for
classes before most other students at the University, they have a special dining plan that is
all-you-can eat, they have first pick at housing, and some of the athletes even get a monthly
allowance for food or housing. They also have tutors and advisors specific to the athletic
department. Williams-Brice Stadium is a symbol of this special treatment of the athlete, and
specifically football players. The stadium was named after a former football player at the
University who donated a significant amount of money for the stadium to be built. The
University of Missouri is a newcomer to the SEC, the stadium is smaller, and the university
did not even make the Forbes list of top revenues and expenses that the University of South
Carolina was ranked number 8 on; however, the football players were given the power to
force the president of the university to resign. I argue that this is because the money that
football at SEC schools generates awards football players with more power than that of a
typical University student.

6. If Jonathan Butler and the football team’s values had not aligned on this issue, this
issue would not have been heard. The goal of Young’s Displacing the Distributive Paradigm
was to, “displace talk of justice that regards persons as primarily possessors and
consumers of goods to a wider context that also includes action, decisions about action, and
provision of the means to develop and exercise capacities.” (Young 16) Though Jonathan
Butler was concerned with social justice and he was concerned primarily with the
domination and oppression aspect of social justice like Young, I would argue that the way
the issue was brought to light at The University of Missouri was not in line with Young’s
model. This is because in order to receive social justice for one group, the minorities at the
University, Jonathan Butler was subjecting another group to domination. This group is the
students at the university who do not play a South Eastern Conference sport at the
University of Missouri. Young does not consider power a nonmaterial good that can be
distributed because she does not think of power as something that can be measured in a
greater or lesser sense. (Young 31) I would disagree with this, because as displayed by the
incident at the University of Missouri, the football players have more power than the
average student. Action was only taken towards the goal of Jonathan Butler once the
football players were involved in the conversation.
In conclusion, Young’s theory of distribution of nonmaterial goods is not in practice
at SEC schools and probably could not be put into practice, because she does not her
distribution of social justice of nonmaterial goods is not concerned with the nonmaterial
power which I have argued is the reason that the issue of racial inequality at the school was
able to be brought to light through a select group of students. This was not an issue that
had previously not existed, or an issue that had not been advocated for before the football

7. players advocated for racial equality by striking; however the difference in the distribution
power in this case brought about change at the University of Missouri.
Works Cited
"About the Southeastern Conference." About the Southeastern Conference. 4 Sept. 2015.
Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
Jessop, Alicia. "The Economics of College Football: A Look At The Top-25 Teams' Revenues
And Expenses." Forbes. Forbes Magazine. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
Kendall, Josh. "A History Lesson on Williams-Brice Stadium." Thestate. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
Miller, Michael. "‘Grow Up,’ Tweets Former Mizzou Football Star to Students Who Slammed
‘hero’ Professor." Washington Post. The Washington Post. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
"Williams-Brice Stadium Facts." University of South Carolina Official Athletic Site. Web. 16
Nov. 2015.
Young, Iris. "Displacing the Distributive Paradigm." Justice and the Politics of Difference.
Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton UP, 1990. 15-38. Print.