RALEIGH, N.C. _ When Victoria Allred was awarded a full golf scholarship to East Carolina in 2014, the Winston-Salem, N.C.-native was elated, having achieved a personal goal.
When it all turned nightmarish for her, when a back injury affected her ability to play and a disbelieving coach _ in her opinion _ wanted her gone from the program and her scholarship back, Allred believed she had nowhere to turn, no way to fully air her grievances, no process for resolving what became a messy, at times contentious situation.
Allred, 22, would stay at ECU, although not on the women's golf team. She would use the scholarship to finish degree work in three majors, graduating in May with a 3.78 grade-point average.
But Allred and her family also became strong advocates in pushing for the recent passage of a bill in the N.C. legislature that includes a Fair Treatment of College Athletes provision and could lead to broader protections for athletes. It creates a commission to study and assess the concerns of college student-athletes in the state such as Allred, who personally lobbied legislators along with her father, Jay Allred.
The Allreds hope it will lead to a bill of rights for athletes and a code of conduct for college coaches. It may result in compensation for athletes, could involve a discussion of long-term treatment for injured athletes and address such issues as allowing athletes to have legal representation and financial advisers.
"It's incredible, the steps North Carolina is taking to protect its student-athletes," Victoria Allred said in an interview. "I'm really hoping this can push other state legislatures to push for this as well, so that will push the NCAA to pass proper legislation to protect their student-athletes, which they are failing to right now."
State Sen. Jeffrey Tarte, a Republican, was one of the bill's sponsors and is eager to be a member of the study commission. In a recent meeting with Allred in his legislative office, Tarte told her, "You're kind of going to be our poster child for everything that's wrong ... and you're not an anomaly. That's the sad part."
Tarte said the commission would need to "get all the stakeholders around the table" to discuss the issues and possible reforms _ presidents and chancellors, athletes, athletic directors, conference and NCAA representatives.
"But that's a part of the reason for the bill," Tarte said. "If you have no voice and you're a captive. ... It comes as close to modern-day slavery as it can be, right? ... This needs to be far-reaching, far-sweeping, getting at facts and background. ...
"The problem with the NCAA, at least the outside perception, is that they've created this monopoly of a business enterprise and they've quit running it in the interest of student-athletes but instead in the interest of protecting this business enterprise. ... If this (commission) functions well, this will shed light on the ugly part of sports, in a sense, controlled by this. ... It's to identify what the issues are and then ... where are the reforms that have to take place to correct those?"
Tarte said any recommendations needed to be fair solutions for both the athletes and the universities. "But the abuses need to come to a screeching halt," he said.
Tarte said North Carolina could be trendsetter, that other states could follow with similar legislation and laws. Senate bill 335, which included Fair Treatment of College Athletes, became state law last week. The legislative committee is to complete its study by March 2019.
"If I was a student-athlete going through the recruiting process and I saw the state of North Carolina was trying to protect their student-athletes, I would be more encouraged to go to a North Carolina school instead of a state without this legislation," Victoria Allred said.
