Due to the Coronavirus, many NCAA student-athletes have been stripped of a year of eligibility before they were even able to compete. All of which, have been training for countless hours in order to achieve their personal and athletic goals. We understand why the NCAA are taking these precautions and believe that the issue is bigger than sports. However, having a year of eligibility taken away from these dedicated athletes simply is not right. If you are an NCAA student-athlete, or support NCAA athletics, we urge you to sign this petition in order to allow the NCAA to give back this year of eligibility to student-athletes.

My mother and I are asking the NCAA to ban violent athletes. Please read my letter and sign our petition. Let the NCAA know that sports are NOT more important than human lives! Dear NCAA, My name is Darius Adams. I’m the son of Brenda Tracy who is a public rape survivor. It was 2010 when my mom first told me that she was raped. I was 17. We were sitting in our car in our driveway. I remember it because it was a life-changing moment for me. She didn’t tell me because she wanted to. She told me because she had to. She was trying to save my life. I was out of control at the time. I was angry and broken and I didn’t care if I lived or not. I remember her crying and struggling to get the words out “I was raped.” She apologized to me over and over and asked me not to hate her. “Please don’t be ashamed of me. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” I still can’t understand why she was apologizing to me, but after that talk, I started to see her as a different person. I saw her as someone who had been hurt, and she was just doing the best she could as a single mother with two kids. It was then that I began to turn my life around — mostly for myself, but also for my mom. I wanted her to be proud of me. I wanted to make sure that what she went through and all the sacrifices she made for me and my brother were not in vain. It was 2014 when my mother went public with her story. I wasn’t prepared. She hadn’t told me the details in 2010, but now every ugly detail was on the internet in an article by John Canzano at the Oregonian. To this day, I haven’t read it all. I can’t. I just can’t. What I do know is that my mom was drugged and gang-raped by four football players in 1998. I know that Oregon State University gave two of them 25 hours community service and Coach Mike Riley gave them a one-game suspension. I know that the police threw away her rape kit and the DA lied to her about her case. I know that Oregon State cared more about football and money than my mom. I know that my mom wanted to kill herself, and I know that she almost did. And all because other people decided that football, money and reputation was more important than me and my brother having a mother. I was scared when the article first came out. I didn’t know how people would react to us. Would they attack my mom? Would they say terrible things about her? Would I have to defend her? And what would I say? But a great thing happened. People reached out to us and they supported us. They expressed their love and gratitude for my mom coming forward and being brave enough to tell her story. I was proud of her. It was the first time I saw her happy. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off of her. I’ve heard her say more than one time, “I walked out of my prison of shame and silence that day,” and she did. I could see it. Ever since then my mom has worked hard to help others. She’s passed five laws in Oregon. She’s won numerous awards. We just went to Washington, DC where she received the National Service Courage Award from the United States Attorney General. She also changed a Pac 12 rule so that athletes with serious misconduct issues can’t transfer into our conference. She’s my hero. And that’s why I’m writing to you. I’m a college athlete, and I watch ESPN religiously. There’s a serious problem in sports. We don’t take sexual violence seriously enough. Seventeen years ago Coach Mike Riley suspended the men that hurt my mom for one game and just yesterday I saw the story about Baylor. Nothing has changed. Schools are still more worried about money and football than people’s lives. I’m a grown man now. I would never hurt a woman that way and I know that most men wouldn’t. Why are we protecting this small group of men? Why are we allowing them to destroy people’s lives? All of these victims have families and they get hurt too. I’m still dealing with what happened to my mom. We need to do something right now, and I think it starts with the NCAA creating a policy that bans violent athletes. Enough is enough. It’s been 17 years and nothing has changed. How many more years do we have to wait for something to happen? As the NCAA you have authority over many schools. YOU can change this. These schools have proven that they are not going to do the right thing. I believe it is your responsibility to step in. And please don’t do it for me or my mom. Do it because it’s the right thing to do. Sincerely, Darius Adams

We call upon the NCAA and President Mark Emmert to uphold the minimum number of sports required to maintain NCAA Division I status. Though we fully realize the challenge of funding a collegiate athletic department, the current pandemic and subsequent anticipated financial shortfalls should not be used as a means to reduce sports sponsorship requirements. No NCAA sport program should be cut!  The NCAA Division I Manual does not delineate one sport over another and states, quite clearly, that an athletics program as a whole is to be a vital part of the educational system. Any reduction in sport offerings runs counter to the Constitution of the NCAA.  Specifically, in Principles for Conduct of Intercollegiate Athletics, principle 2.10 states that “it’s members shall promote opportunity from equity in competition to assure that individual student-athletes and institutions will not be prevented unfairly from achieving the benefits inherent in participation in intercollegiate athletics.” In the past decade, NCAA member programs have experienced unprecedented financial growth in staffing, salaries, building, and revenue. Most of all, this growth has created opportunities – including opportunities for 141,483 Division I students in Olympic Sports. Eliminating these opportunities runs counter to the NCAA’s principles.  Any effort to reduce sports sponsorship requirements will fall exclusively on the backs of the very athletes who epitomize the notion of a student-athlete.  No NCAA sport program should be cut!  When an institution opts to pursue Division I membership they commit to high standards. Student-athletes are no different and when faced with an obstacle they don’t lower their standards. They redouble their commitment. We should expect the same of our institutions. The value of sport comes not from wins and losses, but rather from the educational experiences they provide. The educational experience comes not from taking an airplane instead of a bus or from having a new set of uniforms for every game. There are numerous avenues to provide meaningful and lasting financial relief, however, eliminating opportunities for young men and women should not be one of them.  No NCAA sport program should be cut! 

A new Texas law has effectively banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy - the most severe abortion limitations in the United States. The ban also may penalize women and/or those who try to help them get to another state to get an abortion. The NCAA awarded the 2023 women's Final Four tournament to Dallas, Texas. Five years ago, the NCAA removed seven of its tournaments from North Carolina after that state passed an anti-LGBT law. We ask the NCAA to now extend that stand for human rights to women - half of the human race - and relocate the 2023 women's Final Four tournament outside of Texas. It would be of paramount disrespect to the athletes, and all women, to hold this esteemed tournament in a state that has not only no regard for women's rights, but has opened the door for these rights to be limited in other parts of the country. 2023 Final Four out of Dallas NOW.

Dominick Silvels was expelled from Washington State University for a false rape accusation. The truth has now come out and we want to help get Dominick back into school and back on the field. Dominick doesn’t deserve to get his education ripped away from him. He has lost his shot in playing his favorite sport that he is amazing at all because a young woman was mad at him. Please sign this petition and give Dominick a chance to get back on that field and back into his education. 

Today, March 12, 2020 NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the championships of any remaining winter and spring sports. This decision is extremely harmful to the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people invested in these sports. As athletes, we understand how important it is to protect each other from any harm, and we agree with the implementations that the NCAA has created up until this point. No fans attending games, no gathering for practice, even postponing the season indefinitely. All of these things are reasonable considering the health and safety of the community should always come first. The fact of the matter is that no-one knows what will happen as COVID-19 progresses and there is no harm in keeping our sports on hold. Canceling the entire season, as well as championships of multiple sports is an emotional judgement that should never have happened. If the coronavirus continues to progress, then yes, seasons should be canceled, however, until that point, our seasons should remain as they were! PLEASE sign this petition to REVERSE the decision made this afternoon to cancel our sports, and change the status back to "suspended until further notice".

Rather than taking the road paved by Michigan State when it worked out a settlement with hundreds of Larry Nassar sexual abuse victims, The Ohio State University is moving in the opposite direction by taking steps to avoid accountability and responsibility for its failures that allowed Dr. Richard Strauss to sexually abuse hundreds, if not thousands, of OSU students and student-athletes. The University refuses to voluntarily do the right thing for these survivors—its own alumni. We are asking that the NCAA and Big Ten Conference investigate Ohio State for intentionally covering up Dr. Strauss’s sexual abuse of approximately 1,500 students and student‐athletes, committed over the course of two decades, and force the University to take action designed to ensure that future students attending Ohio State are protected from sexual predators. Sports Illustrated calls this, “The most sweeping sex abuse scandal in the history of American higher education—to say nothing of the history of college sports.” With leadership from the NCAA and the Big Ten Conference, they can address the problem in a meaningful way, both to prevent this from ever happening again and to bring closure to the innocent survivors of serial sexual abuse committed by Ohio State’s former team doctor. Make your voice heard and help these survivors obtain the justice they deserve. Read the letters in full at: https://osumetoo.com/osu-ncaa-big-ten-investigation/

Shania’s Letter  (A Single Weekend) Shania carried great hugs, gifted to all who accepted. She loved smiles and enjoyed smiling more. She could brighten up a room in seconds, and if the room wasn’t talking then she was talking to herself. Carrying such beauty could only inhabit introverted ways, but she never feared a conversation with any human. A fearless young woman indeed, and it was unfortunate that her passing was due to heavy misunderstandings and discriminatory treatment towards her mainly because of her intellectual disabilities, and so they downplayed her and the extremity of the situation because they lacked physician's eyes. Shania’s twenty-first birthday was months away, and she was excited about enjoying her life and moving into the next chapter wanting to become an advocate, living at Building Independence apartments with two other roommate, she were planning for her high school graduation & future at Wake Tech. Sadly, she passed away in the back of an ambulance that waited nearly 20 minutes to leave after packing her and her mother into the truck. Her brother waited calmly in the car, waiting for an abrupt takeoff. Shania had moments in her life that it became a struggle to fully explain her pain to physicians, but after 4 check-ups and 2 days (Friday, Saturday) Shania passed on the next morning of. That morning her skin was pale and lips dry, but yet the people spoke as if she was completely fine. The call was handled inappropriately and when given that tape, her mother was given a chopped version. It was bizarre. Like watching common reality turn against you, and through all the crying and a lady calming down her mother, it was a room full of doctors, and her brother stared her down wondering if she was in pain. He says, “She is strong, and I vow to be just as strong one day.” Her mother had believed 4 trips to the hospital were enough, and every time was a basic pat on the back. Each time, Shania grew weary and grew pains like none other. After a while moving around came in very sharp pains and a simple weekend became the passing of a beautiful girl named, Shania Wilson. Nearly dragged off the couch, not carefully handled. The mistreatment of someone because you may not understand their behavior is outward wrong. A quick judgment could be the end of someone’s life, and if that were your child you would have lots to say about the witnessed neglect and passionless direction of the healthcare system.  “The healthcare system failed my daughter... a vibrant, smart, and happy beautiful black young woman.”  -Shania’s mother The unfair, non protective, and unequal attributes for those with disabilities within the healthcare system, has caused countless unforgettable and unnecessary deaths. Not only is this present in the black communities, but is common in all communities across the United States. I am creating this petition to give a voice to the voiceless and I hope that no child will have to endure what my daughter went through and no parents will have to experience the death of their child in this way. I will be introducing an idea for a bill, to local congressmen, that will protect anyone, with a disability, who is nonverbal or is unable to fully explain enough of what’s going on with them in an emergency situation. Also to amendment the North Carolina’s Senate Bill 33 allowing healthcare professional to be held responsible for their mistakes. You can support by signing this petition, and hopefully bring justice towards my daughters story and gratefully, one day, begin to hold the healthcare professionals responsible for the necessities of respectful and honorable care. Thank you, everyone   

This petition was originally created on March 11 for Ivy League student-athletes when it was announced that all sports within their conference would be cancelled for the spring season. On March 12, the NCAA announced that it would cancel all winter and spring season championships for the remainder of the 2019-2020 season because of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak. As a result of the NCAA's decision, many schools announced the permanent cancellation of their athletic programs for this academic school year. This ended the season for thousands of student-athletes, many of whom were seniors. Please sign this petition if you believe that these student-athletes deserve another year of eligibility, since they had no say in the cancellation of this season. Though we generally cover college baseball, this petition is intended to support student-athletes of all sports and divisions. Thank you for your support!   Original Post: On March 11, 2020, the Ivy League announced that it will cancel all spring athletic competition due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Though some are uncertain on whether this was the correct decision, one thing is for certain: it is not fair for the student-athletes to lose a year of eligibility. All of these players have worked way too hard to prepare for the season, only to have their opportunity stripped away. For the seniors that were hoping for one last shot at a championship, they will no longer get to play the sport they love. For the more talented athletes, this could have been the season they needed to prove to professional scouts that they are capable of playing professionally. The decision to cancel the season is final, but these players do not deserve to be punished as fallout of that decision.  Please sign this petition to encourage the NCAA to grant another season of eligibility to all of the players affected by this decision.

The University of Minnesota prides itself on its diversity and inclusivity. The track and field team at the University represents these values better than just about anyone. With a wide range of students from different backgrounds representing the M for the track team they embody diversity. Along with countless achievements and awards, the track team is the pinnacle of success. Recently the University has decided to terminate the sponsorship of the men’s track and field programs. This decision will negatively impact many. Please support us in fighting for a program that is a huge part of the University of Minnesota community.