Colter Meets the NLRB- What Does it Mean? by Evan Jones

Kain Colter, senior quarterback for the Northwestern University Wildcats shocked the country with his announcement to petition the National Labor Relations Board to form a College Athletics Union.

But what does that mean?

This isn't another "pay for play" gimmick some football player is grabbing at. Colter and countless other athletes filed a petition to have the right to unionize college athletes. They are looking to be recognized for health benefits and scholarship security.

The problem is the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) has already labeled college athletes as "non-employees". Therefore college athletes are forced to walk the tight rope of amateurism; and any wavering off the path the NCAA set for it's student athletes and you are at the mercy of the association. The "student athlete" term, made up by NCAA president Mark Emmert is the deciding factor; as long as you are a student athlete, you are not an employee; therefore you have no right to unionize.

Harper College in Palatine, Ill., and it's athletes are a part of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), although there are many similarities to the two associations, they are separate. Blake Santi, a sophomore at Harper College, and captain of the wrestling team was asked about his thoughts on the student athletes from Northwestern, "I think this going to be a historic moment for student athletes years from now, nothing substantial is going to happen right away, but the message has been sent."

The message being sent is that college athletes are tired of being pushed around. Kain Coulter in his press conference compared to the NCAA to a dictatorship, making billions of dollars on the backs of student athletes. Coulter is not looking for a payroll in this situation he is "just looking for a seat at the table".

"Why the NCAA won't give the college athletes is what confuses me" says David Hughes, a sophomore at Harper College,"They (NCAA) should be in support of the people they represent. All I've seen in the news lately is how the NCAA is making a ton of money, and how upset everyone is with the way they are running things."

"The NCAA denies that it has a legal duty to protect student-athletes, but it admits that it was 'founded to protect young people from the dangerous and exploitive athletic practices of the time'." This was an excerpt from a court filing, filed by the NCAA in August 2011. So even though the association was founded on the principle of protecting the players asses, they're going to protect their own first.

The outlook for the situation remains unsettled. But as Blake Santi stays optimistic on the subject he has these words of encouragement, "Rome wasn't built in a day".

Colter Makes His Stand by Mike Leon

Northwestern Wildcats Quarter back Kain Colter has been leading his teammates to try to become the first ever student athlete union. In simpler terms they gathered to petition with the Nation Labor Relations Board to form a union. These young cats are talking business people. As the NCAA members ever so often allow major football conferences to add cost of attendance money to a scholarship, there is finally a school that will no longer wait to challenge that. 

On the morning of January 28^th 2014 the president of the national college players association, Ragomi Huma filed a petition in Chicago on behalf of all the players at the regional office. It didn’t take long for word on the street to get viral, being talked about on every single sports show.

So what exactly are these guys fighting for? The North Western Wildcats football teams are fighting for basic protections. Now everyone’s quickly jumped the gun to believe this is about getting paid, but clearly that is not the case here. They do not want to get paid at the professional level, they want to be covered medically while wearing their traditional school colors and after their days playing for their school. One of their biggest disagreements with the NCAA and might I add is pretty jaw dropping to hear is, that the NCAA does not guarantee any of their medical expenses will get covered in their time playing for the university, and certainly not after they’ve received their degrees. 

Steve Walker a father of two college student athletes, who play for the University of Wisconsin’s football team, admires this group of kids gathering and fighting for change but believes that the students are forgetting the big picture of College of education. They are not employees. “Obviously there’s a lot of things that have to happen before there’s going to be any change.  Just don’t be surprised if this doesn’t go all of the way to the Supreme Court, because Northwestern is most likely going to deny them.”

From all of the voices that spoke in front of the media, Ragomi Huma’s speech on live television saying  “According to a NCAA study, college football players and basketball spend 40 hours a week alone with their sport, while their graduation rate hovers at 50 percent.” Now I’m a huge fan of College Football and Basketball, but I had no idea how much time the students were working on their craft like a professional would be. Nor did I know that in court filings the NCAA denies it has the legal duty to protect student athletes. 

Bizarre don’t you think?

Matthew Rollins, a peewee football league coach, said “Playing a sport in college is entirely a volunteer, but I had no idea how much time these kids are missing class just to go to an important practice prepping for a big game.”

Now many are assuming the University is going to deny the players, but according to quarterback Kain Colter their going to do whatever they can to obtain more rights, and possibly cash in on some of the NCAA’s endorsement deals. Which ultimately means this can go all of way to the supreme courts which could take years. The players feel it isn’t fair that with all of the money the university is getting and with the new T.V contracts they believe some cut of that could go a long way to support them.  

Corwin Evans has played college basketball and understands the mindset of a student athlete.  “I don’t agree student athletes should get a big check every month especially at their young age.    Now let’s say if they need help medically during their time playing for the school I don’t see a problem there.”

On Wednesday morning the Northwestern Wildcats football team will go up against their university.  With their concerns and arguable cases this could lead to a new change in college sports that’s never been seen before.

Bieber's Flying High by Kathleen Darling

Justin Bieber brought a whole new meaning to the mile high club. During a flight from Canada to New Jersey, 19 year old Justin Bieber not only gave the flight attendant and pilots one of the most challenging plane rides of their lives, but was smoking marijuana while doing it!

Sources say that Bieber was on his way to the NFL Super Bowl XLVIII when the star verbally abused the flight attendant while he smoked marijuana with his 38 year old father. The elder Bieber was aboard the flight, taking part in the all commotion. According to the report, "the captain stated he needed to request that the passengers stop their harassing behavior toward the flight attendant and after several warnings asked the flight attendant to stay with him near the cockpit to avoid any further abuse."

In almost every plane in the world these days there is a clear ‘no smoking’ sign. That sign actually doesn’t mean you can make modifications for the opportunity to get high. Under the FAA regulations "No person may assault, threaten, intimidate, or interfere with a crew member in the performance of the crew member's duties aboard an aircraft." The pilots were so concerned that they would inhale too much of the pot smoke that they would essentially fail their drug test. Subsequently this forced the pilots to wear an oxygen mask because of the terrible flight conditions (inside the aircraft), and that kind of interferes with the crews performance.

After arriving in New Jersey, the Canadian native and his entourage of ten other people were held for questions several hours after they landed. Justin is living in the United States on a work visa… Which baffles me at this point. What he could possibly be working on since he had outwardly announced his early retirement late 2013?
 Harper College student, Amanda Giovenco, expressed her feelings toward the juvenile star saying “I think it’s his cry for help! He seriously needs to get his act together.” It is peculiar that a young star like him would want to end his career so soon. Bieber’s inner circle was finally granted re-entry after a seemingly ample amount of interrogation.

I used to fully support Justin Bieber and his amazing skills to entice his overzealous crowd. Yet his performances lately have made me an "Unbelieber". He has shown a side of himself that I think he won’t be able to bounce back from. He has dug a grave so deep that the climb back to the top would be Unbeliebable.

Bieber is no stranger to crime at this point in his early life, having multiple run-ins with the police force merely in the past few months. His recent arrest for his ever so intense drag racing, which lasted about three blocks going 60 mph in a 30 mph zone, landed the celebrity in prison. Bieber admitted to officers that he had been smoking marijuana 'all day', and drinking beer when he was stopped at 4am. I’m going to now reiterate that Bieber is 19 years young. The teen phenomenon was also taken to the Toronto police station January 29, facing an assault charge from a harsh encounter with a limousine driver in last mid-December.

At this point his best option is to hop back on a plane to Canada and lay low for a while. Nevertheless, Justin needs to start thinking about his future or else he’ll end up being All Around the World’s new laughing stock of this pop culture generation.

Justin Hitting All the Wrong Notes by Marina Mantas

Teen pop sensation Justin Bieber has been making the headlines recently, for all the wrong reasons. The once innocent shaggy-haired pop star has taken the path that we see all too often; the rebellious and careless young adult phase. The 19 year-old Canadian singer is facing felony charges for allegedly egging his neighbors home in a private community located in Calabasas, California. Bieber also was recently arrested for drag racing and a DUI in Miami, along with a nonviolent resisting arrest charge.   

On January 23^rd 2013, Bieber was racing around Miami in a Lamborghini with one of his friends and was supposedly under the influence of alcohol, marijuana and prescription pills. Earlier that night, Bieber and his buddies spent about $75,000 in cash at a strip club according to TMZ.com. Both this case and the egging case remain open, along with yet another pending charge of assault on a limousine driver from a few months ago. If convicted, Bieber could face deportation considering he is not a US citizen. He is already on the US Homeland Security watch list, so whenever he leaves and enters the country he must be searched and cleared to continue.

A few weeks ago, Bieber and his crew, including his father were flying in from Canada to New Jersey in a private jet. The pilot had made several calls down to ground control complaining about an overwhelming smell of marijuana. The odor was so strong the pilot reportedly had to use an oxygen mask to stay coherent, also in fear that they would not pass a drug test if administered. The pop star and his crew were being abusive towards the flight attendant, and his dad did nothing to stop them. When they landed, the plane was searched but there were no drugs left on the plane. Dogs were able to sniff and show that they smelled the odor as well, but no drugs or paraphernalia were found to hold anyone responsible.

What’s sad is how blindly his fans will follow him. Lauren Sada, 17 of Arlington Heights said that she still likes him regardless of how he acts. “He can get away with anything. I don’t think he’s a good role model but I still support him.” She is not alone, in fact many of his fans feel the same way. His fans took over Twitter in late January after he was arrested, with #freebieber trending. Some of his fans even thought it was okay for him to be driving drunk, because he’s Justin Bieber. @leahhh_thompson quoted on Twitter: “I mean on a positive note Justin Bieber still looks hot in his mugshot”. 

Just to show how gullible and moronic his fans are, someone started a rumor that the singer was diagnosed with cancer and started a trend called bald for Bieber. Numerous fans shaved their heads over a hoax. You would think someone would do a little research before such drastic actions, but these teenage girls will do anything to show their support for him.

Justin Bieber is headed down the wrong path, and although he’s definitely not the only pop star to show us their crazy side, he seems relentless. It seems as though every other day he is accused of another crime. Maybe one day he will actually retire like he’s stated in the past but until then, at least we can be entertained by the trainwreck that doesn’t seem to end.

Deport Bieber? by Savanna Cathey

  In less than a month, the petition against Justin Bieber has surpassed the number of signatures it needs to be presented to the White House. The petition called the "We The People" petition was created on January 23rd. It has been signed not only by his "haters" but also by his fans.

 After Bieber's drunk driving arrest, the petition was created. The online petition reads, "We the people of the United States feel that we are being wrongly represented in the world of pop culture. We would like to see the dangerous, reckless, destructive, and drug abusing, Justin Bieber deported and his green card revoked. He is not only threatening the safety of our people but he is also a terrible influence on our nations youth. We the people would like to remove Justin Bieber from our society." 

The petition only needs 100,000 signatures. It has 259,496, twice as many needed and then some. 

 Dallas Tackett, a self-proclaimed "former Belieber" has been recently disappointed with his actions within the past year. "I tried to not let his DUI arrest bother me. But a few days afterwards, I saw his mugshot. He was smiling. I felt sick. I signed the petition the minute I found it online." Tackett also said that she was no longer a fan of Bieber. How could she be idol a person who spits on the people that adore him? In Summer of 2013, Bieber allegedly spit on his fans while standing on a balcony in Toronto. The pop star said he didn't aim is saliva at any of his followers, but the paparazzi caught him mid-spit directly above the gathering. Tackett knows of other "Beliebers" that have also decided to part ways with their obsession earlier last year.

 On the opposite side of the fence stands the Justin Bieber haters. Dan Sumner, one of these "haters" described a specific moment  at which he started to actually started to care about Bieber's actions. "Before this incident, I didn't really care what Justin did. But once I heard about it, I couldn't stand him." The incident at which Sumner is referring to is when the pop artist was at a club in Korea, he stormed into DJ Michael Woods' booth demanding him to play his songs instead of Woods' own work. 

Woods' reported on his Twitter account that "...he took a cheap shot at my tour manager and fled behind a wall of security." Sumner at this point was visibly upset, "Who do you think you are? No one comes on your stage and tells you what to sing or what songs to play when your performing. I know [Michael Woods' work] and I appreciate his work. It made me loose any respect I had left for him as an artist and as a person. When signing the petition, I remembered this incident on top of his DUI in Miami. Either incident alone would have done it though." 

 Bieber has found himself in hot water after his charges in Miami. The pop-star has seemed to lay low up to date. The petition will be presented to the White House on February 22nd for the Obama administration to decide on. The Obama administration has no choice but to speak on the matter, it must be addressed.