Kain Colter
College athletes this year won unprecedented rights and protections in big-time programs. And perhaps no one fought harder for them than Kain Colter, a quarterback at Northwestern University, who spent his senior year organizing the first-ever players’ union in college sports.
Mr. Colter, 24, and his teammates scored an early victory in their fight to unionize when a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board ruled that the team’s players were employees of the university. The decision, which the university has appealed, could have widespread impact, allowing major-college athletes to collectively bargain for a share of the billions of dollars that athletic departments generate.
The Northwestern players, however, have not advocated for paychecks. Instead they have urged the NCAA to enforce stricter policies protecting athletes from concussions and other injuries, and called for colleges to provide improved health and education benefits.
The union is one of several fronts on which college athletes have made headway. This year they gained the right to a share of licensing revenue, voting rights in the NCAA system, and additional financial benefits and scholarship protections at some colleges.
But it was the union that stirred the most debate. Americans have a love-hate relationship with organized labor. One poll conducted this year showed that some 75 percent of those surveyed did not believe that college athletes should be allowed to join a union.
Mr. Colter’s idea grew out of a class he took in 2013 called “Field Studies in the Modern Workplace.” During a tour of a steel factory, he raised questions about the rights of workers, recalls his instructor, Nick Dorzweiler. A discussion about union benefits prompted Mr. Colter to talk about his experience as a college athlete and his concern that players lack basic health and safety protections.
Mr. Colter later pursued a research project on the viability of a players’ union, learning about the National College Players Association, a player-advocacy group. During his senior season, he supported an NCPA initiative, displaying the letters “APU"—"all players united"—on his wristbands during games. Behind the scenes, the Northwestern captain helped lead meetings with the group’s president, Ramogi Huma, and other athletes about a potential labor movement.
“He knew the type of exposure and heat he would likely take, but he followed his moral compass,” says Mr. Huma. “He showed that you can love your school and still stand up for what’s right.”
When Mr. Colter announced the players’ intentions, he came out swinging, calling the NCAA a “dictatorship.” And during his testimony at an NLRB hearing, in February, he exchanged sharp words with Northwestern’s lawyers, arguing that even at his elite university, football was essentially a full-time job, requiring a commitment of up to 60 hours a week.
“You can’t ever reach your academic potential with the time demands,” said Mr. Colter, who dropped out of a pre-med track to concentrate on his sport.
Despite the players’ initial success, they face stiff challenges. The five-person National Labor Relations Board, in Washington, must approve their request, and a majority of Northwestern’s football players must support the idea.
Even if all of that happens, the concept must survive probable appeals in federal court.
Should the players prevail, Mr. Colter does not stand to benefit. He attended graduation ceremonies in June, after earning a degree in psychology, and in August he joined the practice squad of the Minnesota Vikings.
But he is still involved with the movement. He co-founded the College Athletes Players Association, a group formed to represent unionized players, and serves on its Board of Directors. And he has continued to agitate for change.
In August he took to Twitter to commend a decision by a federal judge that dismantled aspects of the NCAA’s amateur model.
The ruling was a “huge victory,” Mr. Colter wrote, “but still doesn’t completely fix this flawed system.”
—Brad Wolverton
