National Protection of Student-Athlete Mental Health: The Case for Federal Regulation over the National Collegiate Athletic Association
![handle is hein.journals/indana92 and id is 1261 raw text is:
National Protection of Student-Athlete Mental Health:
The Case for Federal Regulation over the National
Collegiate Athletic Association
JAYCE BORN*
On Instagram, Madison Holleran's life looked ideal: Star athlete, bright student,
beloved friend. But the photos hid the reality of someone struggling to go on.' On
January 17, 2014, Madison Holleran's dad called her and asked if she had found a
therapist on campus. She said, No, but don't worry, Daddy, I'll find one.2 That
night, she jumped off the ninth level of a parking garage to her death.' Everyone
knew she was unhappy, but nobody knew exactly how deep her torment went.
Holleran's track coach knew that the nineteen-year-old University of Pennsylvania
track runner was struggling to figure out whether track was making her unhappy, or
just Penn.4 But she was left on her own to find help on campus, a task she could not
complete.'
The story of Madison Holleran is just one story of the devastating effects of
mental illness on student-athletes. There are others. For example, just before the
tragic death of Madison Holleran, the National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) community lost another life, and the combination of these two high-profile
suicides set the stage for this Note author, as well as many others, to push the
conversation of what must be done. In December 2014, Kosta Karageorge, a football
player at The Ohio State University, committed suicide.' Karageorge went missing
in early December and was later found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the
head in a dumpster on Ohio State's campus.' Just before his death, Karageorge sent
a text message to his mother indicating that he was an embarrassment and that his
concussions have [his] head all f-ed up.'
In the brief aftermath of Holleran's and Karageorge's deaths, the mental health of
college athletes became a topic of conversation. For example, the National Athletic
* J.D., 2017, Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Thank you to my family and
freidns for their unwavering support and constant guidance. Thank you to Professor Luis
Fuentes-Rohwer for giving me the academic space and assistance to publish this piece. Thank
you to all of my teammates and coaches who showed me what it means to be passionate.
Finally, thank you to the Indiana Law Journal staff for their hard work and dedication to this
Volume.
1. Kate Fagan, Split Image, ESPN (May 7, 2015), http://www.espn.com/espn/feature
/story//id/12833146/instagram-account-university-pennsylvania-runner-showed-only-part-story
[https:/perma.cc/3XY-H-8JBZ].
2. Id
3. Id.
4. Id
5. Id.
6. Terrence McCoy, The Violent Death of Ohio State's Kosta Karageorge-and the
Troubling Link Between Suicide and Concussions, WASH. POST (Dec. 1, 2014), https://www
.washingtonpost.com/news/moming-mix/wp/2014/12/01/the-violent-death-of-ohio-state-foot
ball-player-kosta-karageorge-and-concussions-suicidal-impact/ [https://perna.cc/4PFZ-GHA3].
7. Id.
8. Id.
1221](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/indana92&div=34&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most