Earning Our Stripes: Student Athletes and Their Time at Princeton

Abstract

This thesis project is both paper and podcast. I was interested in the lived experiences of Princeton college athletes in the context of the relationship that college athletics has with amateurism and compliance. As an athletic conference the Ivy League differs from most others in the NCAA in not offering athletic scholarships to its athletes. Princeton student athletes must balance a high pressure academic schedule alongside the demands of a heavily laden athletic commitments. Over the course of my senior year I sat down and recorded eight episodes for an ethnographic podcast series I call ‘Earning Our Stripes.’ The series allowed me to pose questions to fellow Princeton student athletes about their personal experiences with the conditions of compliance and amateurism as an NCAA athlete, as well as the ultimate influence the relationship between organisation and athlete can have on relationships with sport. Keywords: student athlete, power, control, compliance, amateurism, environmental sustainability.