Hot take: Top 20 colleges should not have D1 sports teams
Zosia: Prestigious institutions like Stanford, Duke, Notre Dame, and countless others bestow full-ride scholarships upon student-athletes, who oftentimes don’t match their peers in terms of academic capabilities. These schools, which are exceptionally selective for the average applicant, essentially give away exorbitant amounts of research and academic opportunities to athletes who will likely never use the knowledge obtained in the real world. Athlete-students, rather, take opportunities from far more qualified undergraduate students.
Logan: Although schools such as UCLA, Michigan, and Duke spend millions of dollars on full-ride scholarships, sports facilities, and players, it has catapulted thousands of student-athletes into high-level sports and fame. Many of these players donate millions of dollars back into these programs to help lower-income athletes play collegiate sports. Many professional athletes are from broken homes and low-income families, and being able to get full-ride scholarships and play sports allows them to get out of bad situations to make something of themselves. Banning top 20 colleges from having sports teams removes opportunities for lower income student athletes.
Zosia: It’s definitely true that some top athletes have been produced from top 20 schools. Cameron Brink, for example, has been especially successful in her WNBA career, after graduating from Stanford, but one could definitely argue that she would’ve been equally as successful at a state school like UConn or Iowa. She unnecessarily took up the spot of a qualified student who could’ve participated in groundbreaking research. Brink doesn’t use her Design Engineering degree from Stanford.
Logan: Yes, Cameron Brink could’ve taken the spot of a potential groundbreaking researcher. However, groundbreaking research has been conducted in both successful state schools and top colleges. Both Cameron Brink and the possible groundbreaking academic student come to these top 20 colleges because of their great accomplishments in academics and sports, but Cameron Brink arguably had a better chance of standing out in her team and being drafted, than if she went to UConn or Iowa where she would have been overshadowed by the talents of Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers.
Do you have a Hot Take? Inspired by the hit short-form show SubwayTakes hosted by comedian Kareem Rahma, this column offers a space for some open dialogue about a topic you’re passionate about. Similarly to the show itself, if you are someone with a hot take, please message Zosia @ bowluk9777@oshkosh.k12.wi.us and see if you can get on the same page.
The take must be original and should be something you’re eager to speak on.
Of course, the objective of this column is to be a fun space to voice a conviction. Although any topic is up for discussion, talking points shouldn’t incite violence, inspire hate speech, or instill fear.
by Zosia Bowlus-Jasinski
Published December 1, 2025
Oshkosh West Index Volume 122 Issue III