Students allege Lack of Ivy League Academic Scholarships Violation of Antitrust Laws

Students at Brown University have brought forth a class action lawsuit against the University–and wider Ivy League policies regarding athletic scholarships¹. Tamenag Choh, a forward for the Brown Men’s Basketball team from 2017 to 2022, and Grace Kirk, a guard on the university’s Women’s Basketball team since 2020, argue that an agreement among Ivy League universities to not pay athletes or provide athletic scholarships is illegal² (Complaint 1). In a rapidly shifting collegiate sports landscape, the complaint is yet another example of a growing movement calling for greater rights for athletes in higher levels of education.

The plaintiffs argue that Ivy League universities have, essentially, colluded to not offer athletic scholarships³. The students allege that these schools are working as “big business”–indeed, these universities have endowments that together are greater than $170 billion⁴. To these two students, and the numerous others they represent, Ivy League universities have, in essence, attempted to price-fix. Allegedly, an agreement among these schools not to allow or distribute athletic scholarships, as well as not to compensate athletes for their performances, is a way to keep tuition high for student-athletes⁵. The plaintiffs argue that on a basic level, Ivy League universities are acting like a group of large businesses that all sell the same product. To students, it seems that these businesses have all conspired to keep prices high for their product–so that all companies are able to overcharge and make a profit, with no single company charging less and drawing consumers. In this case, the “product” is college admission for student-athletes⁶. Plaintiffs allege such actions are a direct violation of the Sherman Act, a monumental law passed in 1890 that has, for over a century, protected the rights of consumers and attempted to limit the power of massive corporations⁷.

Ivy League universities, for their part, have fiercely rejected these claims. Attorneys for Brown University and other Ivy League schools argue that they have the right to determine the degree of monetary rewards  which they provide their student athletes–including the right to refuse athletic scholarships⁸. Additionally, the claim was made that the ban on sports scholarship at these prestigious institutions was meant to “foster campus cultures that do not prioritize athletics”⁹.

Currently, it seems that the rules and rights of college athletes are being constantly rewritten. But this lawsuit has the potential to be a massive victory for college athletes. It would be another step towards the classification of collegiate athletes as, on a basic level, employees or workers, with the rights that would accompany those titles.

1. Complaint, Tameneng Choh and Grace Kirk v. Brown University at el, Case 3:23-cv-00305-AWT, at *1 (D Conn. Mar 7, 2023) (hereinafter “Complaint”). ↩︎
2. Id ↩︎
3. Vaz, Julia, Brown Students Sue Ivy League Over Athletic Scholarship Policy, BROWN DAILY HERALD (Mar. 9, 2023). ↩︎
4. Scarcella, Mike, Ivy Leaguers Blast Schools’ Bid to Dismiss Lawsuit over Athletic Scholarship Bans, REUTERS (Jun. 30, 2023). ↩︎
5. Complaint, at *1 ↩︎
6. Complaint, at *2 ↩︎
7. Complaint, at *1 ↩︎
8. Scarcella, Supra n.2 ↩︎
9. Id ↩︎