Today, the common discourse surrounding student-athletes’ Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) Rights is evolving from an archaic sense of paternalism and conservative protectionism to various forms of redistribution such as salaries and endorsement rights. Although I have found the NCAA’s protectionist stance on amateurism to be outdated, I do not find the salarying of student-athletes to be tenable for the majority of higher education institutions. The NCAA should roll back their codes (2.9, 2.13, 12.4.4, 15.1, in particular) restricting student-athlete NIL rights in order to maximize these students’ potential for self-authorship. To support student-athletes bfore, during, and after this legislative change, I am proposing a Self-Authorship Seminar, which could take the form of a voluntary meeting or even a 3-credit course, depending on the preferred style of implementation at a given institution. This seminar/course is designed to address the cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal dimensions of Marcia Baxter-Magolda’s (2001) Theory of Self-Authorship through group discussions on academic growth and engagement, personal ethics and values, and relationship-building, as well as writing labs to hone students’ communication and advocacy skills
