Student Union
- By Nick Dugan
School's Out for World Cup Fever
Universities around the globe have swapped out books and exams for noise makers and soccer jerseys, as 2018 FIFA World Cup fever rages.
International universities have converted buildings and classrooms into places where students and locals can gather to support their national team at campus watch parties. This year's tournament in Russia β which began June 14 and ends July 15 β costs $15 billion and is expected to attract more than 3.2 billion viewers worldwide, according to GlobalWebIndex research.
In Nigeria, universities have become a hotbed for World Cup revelry. At Bingham University near the capital of Abuja, hundreds gathered to watch the Nigerian Super Eagles defeat Iceland 2-0. Together, students and locals cheered and sang the country's national anthem following the win.
Meanwhile, at the University of Lagos, the College of Medicine hosted viewing and celebrations after Nigeria's win.
At the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, students and locals celebrated Nigeria's win throughout campus, serenading each other from hostel balconies.
"Actually, it is never fun watching soccer alone at home," said 22-year-old Nigerian Sinclair Lyon Jr. "Nigeria is a place with over 300 tribes and we speak over 520 languages. [Soccer] brings unity and oneness amongst us despite our ethnic and tribal differences. With soccer, we speak one language and that is supporting the super Eagles of Nigeria to victory."
At the University of Benin in Nigeria, students flooded the streets in jubilation following Nigeria's win. Four days later, Nigeria was eliminated in a 2-1 loss to Argentina, but if Twitter activity is any indication, students in Nigeria remained infected with World Cup fever.
βBreak in Uruguay
At Catholic University of Uruguay, university officials announced that "all classes and activities" would be suspended until after tournament's conclusion in mid-July. The university in Montevideo is home to over 10,000 students.
"One of the main missions of the university student is to be attentive to the reality that surrounds us, from a critical, academic spirit, but also immersed in it, vibrating and participating with society as a whole," wrote Vice-Chancellor Γlvaro Pacheco to the student body when announcing the break.
"It is evident that sports in general, and especially soccer, is an element that defines us as Uruguayans, and that has the virtue of creating a common sense of unity that is rare in our days."
The Uruguayan national team has advanced into the quarterfinals.
Foul flags
Although the national soccer team for Bangladesh has never qualified for the tournament β they rank 194th in world rankings β World Cup mania rages there. Bangladeshis have thrown their support behind Argentina or Brazil, the top South American teams.
Flags, rallies and parades fill the streets of Bangladesh with the team colors of Argentina and Brazil. But the passion has sometimes turned violent, such as earlier this month, when Argentina and Brazil supporters attacked each other with machetes in the town of Bandar, leaving two critically wounded.
The University of Barisal warned students in May against hoisting foreign flags, citing a national law that "the flag of a Foreign State shall not be flown on any car or building in Bangladesh without the specific permission of the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh."
"As the university is a government organization, we cannot allow such unauthorized activities," university vice chancellor SM Imamul Haque said in an interview with New Age.
During the lead-up to the 2014 World Cup, government officials in the Jessore district appealed to fans to remove Argentinean and Brazilian flags flying from their rooftops. Despite these disagreements, World Cup flags are still flying.
And while many students love soccer, not everyone embraces the party that comes along with the World Cup. Near the University of Moscow, World Cup organizers erected a viewing screen near the university dorms. Although 4,600 students signed a petition to have the screen and noise moved, the Fan Zone remains active.
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Lily Meskers faced an unexpected choice in the lead-up to the first major election she can vote in.
The 19-year-old University of Montana sprinter was among college athletes in the state who received an inquiry from Montana Together asking if she was interested in a name, image and likeness deal to support Sen. Jon Tester, a three-term Democrat seeking re-election. The group, which is not affiliated with the Tester campaign, offered from $400 to $2,400 to athletes willing to produce video endorsements.
Meskers, who is from Colorado but registered to vote in Montana, decided against the deal because she disagrees with Tester's votes on legislation involving transgender athletes in sports.
"I was like, OK, I believe that this is a political move to try to gain back some voters that he might have lost," Meskers said. "And me being a female student-athlete myself, I was not going to give my endorsement to someone who I felt didn't have the same support for me."
Professional athletes such as LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick and Stephen Curry have taken high-profile stances on hot-button topics and political campaigns in recent years, but college athletes are far less outspoken β even if money is available, according to experts in the NIL field. Being outwardly political can reflect on their school or endanger potential endorsement deals from brands that don't want controversy. It can certainly establish a public image for an athlete β for better or for worse β or lead to tensions with teammates and coaches who might not feel the same way.
There are examples of political activism by college athletes: A Texas Tech kicker revealed his support for former President Donald Trump on a shirt under his uniform at a game last week and a handful of Nebraska athletes a few days ago teamed up in a campaign ad against an abortion measure on the Tuesday's ballot.
Still, such steps are considered rare.
"It can be viewed as risky and there may be people telling them just don't even take that chance because they haven't made it yet," said Lauren Walsh, who started a sports branding agency 15 years ago. She said there is often too much to lose for themselves, their handlers and in some cases, their families.
"And these individuals still have to figure out what they're going to do with the rest of their lives, even those that do end up getting drafted," she added.
College coaches are not always as reticent. Auburn men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl has used social media to make it clear he does not support Kamala Harris, Trump's Democratic opponent in next week's presidential election. Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy once caused a stir with a star player for wearing a shirt promoting a far-right news outlet.
Blake Lawrence, co-founder of the NIL platform Opendorse, noted that this is the first presidential election in the NIL era, which began in July 2021. He said athletes are flocking to opportunities to help increase voter turnout in the 18-to-24 age demographic, adding that one of his company's partners has had 86 athletes post social media messages encouraging turnout through the first half of the week.
He said athletes are shying away from endorsing specific candidates or causes that are considered partisan.
"Student-athletes are, for the most part, still developing their confidence in endorsing any type of product or service," he said. "So if they are hesitant to put their weight behind supporting a local restaurant or an e-commerce product, then they are certainly going to be hesitant to use their social channels in a political way."
Giving athletes a voice
Many college athletes have opted to focus on drumming up turnout in a non-partisan manner or simply using their platforms to take stands that are not directly political in nature. Some of those efforts can be found in battleground states.
A progressive group called NextGen America said it had signed players in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia to encourage voting among young people. Another organization, The Team, said it prepped 27 college athletes in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona and Michigan to lead volunteer voter participation opportunities for students. The organization also said it got more than 625 coaches to sign a nonpartisan pledge to get their athletes registered to vote.
The Team's executive director is Joe Kennedy, a former coach who coordinated championship visits and other sporting events at the White House during President Barack Obama's administration. In early October, it hosted a Zoom event during which panelists such as NCAA President Charlie Baker and WNBA players Nneka Ogwumike and Natasha Cloud gave college athletes advice about using their platforms on campus.
In its early days, The Team seized upon momentum from the record turnout seen in the 2020 election. The NCAA that year said Division I athletes could have Election Day off from practice and play to vote. Lisa Kay Solomon, founder of the All Vote No Play campaign, said even if the athletes don't immediately take stands on controversial issues, it's important for them to learn how.
"It is a lot to ask our young people to feel capable and confident on skills they've never had a chance to practice," Solomon said. "We have to model what it means to practice taking risks, practice standing up for yourself, practice pausing to think about what are the values that you care about β not what social media is feeding into your brain, but what do you care about and how do you express that? And how do you do it in a way that honors the kind of future that you want to be a part of?"
Shut up and play?
Two years ago, Tennessee-Martin quarterback Dresser Winn said he would support a candidate in a local district attorney general race in what experts said was very likely the first political NIL deal by a college athlete.
There have been very few since.
The public criticism and fallout for athletes who speak out on politics or social issue can be sharp. Kaepernick, the Super Bowl-winning quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, hasn't played in an NFL game since January 2017, not long after he began kneeling during the national anthem at games.
Meskers, the Montana sprinter, said political endorsements through NIL deals could create problems for athletes and their schools.
"I just think that NIL is going to run into a lot of trouble and a lot of struggles if they continue to let athletes do political endorsements," she said. "I just think it's messy. But I stand by NIL as a whole. I think it's really hard as a student athlete to create a financial income and support yourself."
Walsh said it's easier for wealthy and veteran stars like James and Ogwumike to take stands. James, the Los Angeles Lakers star, started More Than a Vote β an organization with a mission to "educate, energize and protect Black voters" β in 2020. He has passed the leadership to Ogwumike, who just finished her 13th year in the WNBA and also is the president of the Women's National Basketball Players Association. More than a Vote is focused on women's rights and reproductive freedom this year.
"They have very established brands," Walsh said. "They know who they are and they know what their political stance is. They know that they have a really strong following that -- there's always going to be haters, but they're also always going to have that strong following of people who listen to everything that they have to say."
Andra Gillespie, an associate professor at Emory University who teaches African American politics, also said it is rare that a college athlete would make a significant impact with a political stand simply because they tend to have a more regional platform than national. Even celebrities like Taylor Swift and Eminem are better at increasing turnout than championing candidates.
"They are certainly very beneficial in helping to drive up turnout among their fans," Gillespie said. "The data is less conclusive about whether or not they're persuasive β are they the ones who are going to persuade you to vote for a particular candidate?"
Athletes as influencers
Still, campaigns know young voters are critical this election cycle, and athletes offer an effective and familiar voice to reach them.
Political and social topics are not often broached, but this week six Nebraska athletes β five softball players and a volleyball player β appeared in an ad paid for by the group Protect Women and Children involving two initiatives about abortion laws on Tuesday's ballot.
The female athletes backed Initiative 434, which would amend the state constitution to prohibit abortions after the first trimester, with exceptions. Star softball player Jordy Bahl said on social media that the athletes were not paid.
A University of Montana spokesperson said two athletes initially agreed to take part in the NIL deal backing Tester. The school said one withdrew and the other declined to be interviewed.
For Meskers, deciding against the offer boiled down to Tester twice voting against proposals to bar federal funds from going to schools that allow transgender athletes to play women's sports, a prominent GOP campaign topic. Tester's campaign said the proposals were amendments to government spending packages, and he didn't want to play a role in derailing them as government shutdowns loomed.
"As a former public school teacher and school board member, Jon Tester believes these decisions should be made at the local level," a Tester spokesperson said. "He has never voted to allow men to compete against women."
Meskers said she believes using influence as college athletes is good and she is in favor of NIL. She just doesn't think the two should mix specifically for supporting candidates.
"I think especially as student athletes, we do have such a big voice and we do have a platform to use," she said. "So I think if you're encouraging people to do their civic duties and get up and go (vote), I think that's a great thing."
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