RENT-SEEKING IN HIGHER-EDUCATION - VOTING ON ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS

Research on U.S. college athletics suggests that voting on academic el igibility rules is motivated by rent-seeking behavior. Furthermore, ac ademic eligibility rules have been criticized as being racially biased - more blacks than whites fail to meet the requirements. This paper e xamines whether the potential racial bias impacted voting on a specifi c academic eligibility rule known as Proposition 42. Evidence of custo mer discrimination suggests revenue generating differentials between b lack and white college basketball players. If rent-seeking behavior mo tivates voting on academic eligibility rules, then the racial composit ion of recruits and fans may be determinants of Proposition 42 voting. The results show that schools with more black fans were more likely t o oppose Proposition 42; however, schools with a larger pool of potent ial black recruits tended to favor it, perhaps due to a comparative ad vantage in recruiting black student-athletes.