UWM SAAC Casts Unanimous Vote on Name, Image, Likeness Legislation

In their Dec. 2. meeting, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), voted unanimously in support of the NCAA proposed legislation regarding name, image, and likeness rules for athletes.

All SAAC meetings at UWM have been held over Microsoft teams this year amid the pandemic, and campus meeting restrictions. It was attended by the roughly 50 members of the committee, and run by Jessica Kumke, the associate director of athletics for compliance and enrollment services. 

The group met to vote on the new proposed NCAA legislation regarding name, image, and likeness (NIL) rules for student-athletes in the NCAA. The question of whether or not to allow collegiate athletes to earn a profit has been debated for many years. The proposed legislation would not allow athletes to earn compensation for athletic performances or as recruiting incentives. It would however, for the first time, allow college athletes to earn compensation for the use of their name or image.

There would remain restrictions on the thing’s athletes would be allowed to profit from. Activities involving sports wagering or banned substances would remain out. 

In an email from UWM SAAC President Rylie Vaughn, she explained that the committee exists to give student-athletes a voice. Vaughn explained the athletes a platform within their institution, conference, and even the NCAA. 

According to Vaughn, the committee votes on NCAA legislation each year in their December meeting. The meeting is facilitated by a staff member and voted on by the students. The votes are then moved on to the conference level before finally to the NCAA. 

When asked about the impact of the vote, Vaughn replied, “This influences major decisions made in the NCAA across all sports, so I would say that student-athlete votes truly do matter. The voting is why I wanted to be part of SAAC in the first place.” 

The new legislation would allow student-athletes to employ professional service providers to help them navigate NIL options. Like the other new opportunities, this one is not without restrictions. Athletes may not employ professional service providers who are also agents to secure professional sports opportunities. Athletes must pay the industry standard rate for service providers. 

Athletes will also be required to disclose in advance to a third party, any information or changes regarding their NIL compensation agreements. This new legislation was broken down into four separate categories: student-athletes, prospective student athletes, professional services, and third-party administrators. Each of the proposals received unanimous support from the Milwaukee SAAC committee. 

The committee meets each month and works on projects within the athletic department, the university, and the surrounding community. According to the athletic department’s page on the committee site, the group is intended to promote insight into the student-athlete experience. SAAC is a national program with multiple tiers. Each NCAA school has their own committee made up of athletes from their campus. Individual schools choose two representatives to be the voice of their student-athletes at the conference level. From there, each conference picks one representative for the conference to join the national SAAC. 

The group hopes to do this through, “promoting, fostering, designing and implementing programs that encourage academic achievement, professional development, health-conscious life choices and social responsibility,” according to their website. 

Trevor Coenen, who is a fifth-year senior on the men’s track and field team, is the Horizon League representative for UWM. According to Coenen, the transition to online meetings hasn’t been very enjoyable. 

“Honestly, it’s been very different and I’m not the biggest fan of it,” said Coenen. “I liked the social and interactive portion of SAAC and feel like I miss out on it a little bit with everything being virtual.” 

Vaughn also brought up how strange the year has looked for SAAC and mentioned that it has been difficult to find things for the group to work on. Among the things they can do, according to Vaughn, the group is working on increasing awareness among student athletes of what goes on in administration. The goal being that the student-athletes would be more engaged to share and influence ideas in the administration. 

“We are also working on the OneLove initiative that normally happens in the fall but will be in the spring because of COVID,” said Vaughn. “The Horizon League is also looking into implementing some kind of anti-racism education for all student-athletes.” 

Coenen stressed how focused the Horizon League SAAC is on end of the year surveys which student-athletes fill out each year. According to Coenen, the survey responses contain the information which the conference uses to make changes to championships and seasons each year. 

“Really they are much more important than people treat them,” said Coenen. “The League really does take time to review these.”