Ball State President Geoff Mearns returns to the Ball State Pandemic Update this week to talk about one of his new responsibilities. Earlier this month he was elected Chair of the Mid-American Conference Council of Presidents – a body that governs athletics activities for the MAC’s 12 member schools. We covered that last week; this week he tells us about his role as the MAC’s representative to the NCAA’s Division-I Board of Directors.

This is timely as earlier in the week The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of college student-athletes regarding their ability to earn educational benefits beyond their athletics scholarships. Athletes might now receive education-related benefits such as graduate-school tuition, computers, tutoring, and more. The NCAA argued such benefits would blur the line between the athlete’s amateur status and professional athletes.

The Supreme Court disagreed, shutting out the NCAA 9 to zip in its vote.

We will discuss those issues and Ball State’s COVID-19 vaccination policy for the fall semester, in this week’s installment of the Ball State Pandemic Update.  You can hear the interview on the audio app, below: