U.T. Student Athletes Should Be Commended On Demands

I love it when young people lead the way.

A group of student-athletes from the University Of Texas has asked for a series of changes on campus and in its sports programs.

I'm not here to necessarily detail the changes they are asking for, but to praise them for getting involved. The dumb-jock stereotype needs to go away and if you are asking these students to be leaders on and off the field, well guess what? You just got your wish.

I'm generally not a "love it or leave it" kind of guy. I think if you truly love something you will generally take steps to keep it worth loving. Drafting a series of asks is one of the best ways to achieve this because if you ask for twenty things, you'll most often get at least a few of them.

All of this goes back to a theme that I'll return to again and again and that is that tradition is dead man's baggage. Why anyone, goes along with a tradition without questioning it on a regular basis is beyond me. For example, the founding fathers were no doubt geniuses but we've got cars, nuclear bombs, and computer porn since then. Different times require different measures.

So the ball is in the court of U.T. administrators now and what they do will have a big impact on how student and student-athletes concerns are being recognized. These students are among those who pay big money or even earn big money for the school and they do have many other options if they are ignored.