Schools

Are top-drawer college football teams and their name, image and likeness collectives simply trying to protect themselves from willy-nilly transfers or are they bullying players to stay put with threats of lawsuits?

Adding liquidated damage fee clauses to NIL contracts became all the rage in 2025, a year that will be remembered as the first time players have been paid directly by schools. But some experts say such fees cannot be used as a cudgel to punish players that break a contract and transfer.

It’s no surprise that the issue has resulted in a lawsuit — make that two lawsuits — before the calendar flipped to 2026.

Less than a month after Georgia filed a lawsuit against defensive end Damon Wilson II to obtain $390,000 in damages because he transferred to Missouri, Wilson went to court himself, claiming Georgia is misusing the liquidated damages clause to “punish Wilson for entering the portal.”

Wilson’s countersuit in Boone County, Mo., says he was among a small group of Bulldog stars pressured into signing the contract Dec. 21, 2024. The lawsuit also claims that Wilson was misused as an elite pass rusher, that the Georgia defensive scheme called for him to drop back into pass coverage. Wilson, who will be a senior next fall, led Missouri with nine sacks this season.

Georgia paid Wilson $30,000, the first monthly installment of his $500,000 NIL deal, before he entered the transfer portal on Jan. 6, four days after Georgia lost to Notre Dame in a College Football Playoffs quarterfinal.

Bulldogs brass was not pleased. Wilson alleges in his lawsuit that Georgia dragged its feet in putting his name in the portal and spread misinformation to other schools about him and his contractual obligations.

“When the University of Georgia Athletic Association enters binding agreements with student-athletes, we honor our commitments and expect student-athletes to do the same,” Georgia spokesperson Steven Drummond said in a statement after the school filed the lawsuit.

Wilson’s countersuit turned that comment on its head, claiming it injured his reputation because it implies he was dishonest. He is seeking unspecified damages in addition to not owing the Bulldogs anything. Georgia’s lawsuit asked that the dispute be resolved through arbitration.

A liquidated damage fee is a predetermined amount of money written into a contract that one party pays the other for specific breaches. The fee is intended to provide a fair estimate of anticipated losses when actual damages are difficult to calculate, and cannot be used to punish one party for breaking the contract.

Wilson’s case could have far-reaching implications because it is the first that could determine whether schools can enforce liquidated damage clauses. While it could be understandable that schools want to protect themselves from players transferring soon after receiving NIL money, legal experts say liquidated damage fees might not be the proper way to do so.

For over a month, schools in Vikindwe, a locality 10 kilometres from Musienene in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, have been closed due to the activities of the Wazalendo militia group. The primary schools in Vikindwe and Vuketi, along with the Viseya Institute, have been particularly affected by this educational disruption.

According to Kakule Syanghuswa Arsen, the headmaster of Vikindwe Primary School, events began to escalate in February this year when members of the Wazalendo militia assaulted a student from the school. This incident created tension between the militia and the local community. Following this, there were death threats directed at specific individuals in the area, as well as sporadic gunfire during school hours, severely disrupting the teaching and learning process.

Since October, the situation has become so tense that some students have experienced convulsions. The headmaster has now urged the authorities in the education sector to intervene with the provincial governor, hoping to have the Wazalendo militia removed from Vikindwe to restore normalcy.

In a related development, the resumption of classes in Njiapanda, as requested by the sub-provincial education committee, has been relatively cautious. This tentative return to classes comes three weeks after classes were suspended at the request of civil society organisations in Manguredjipa.

On  Monday, Dec. 15, only a few students were present in several schools in the area. In Kambau, Mbunia Kisenge, the headmaster of a secondary school, reported that no students were attending school. He attributed this situation to the concerns and fears of parents regarding the security situation within the Bapakombe tribal group, which has been marked by repeated attacks on the population by fighters from the Union of Patriots for the Liberation of Congo (UPLC).

In Njiapanda, some schools located in the centre of town have cautiously resumed operations. However, schools on the outskirts have reported a high rate of student absences, even though several teachers are present in the classrooms. Only the final year students are attending school.

Militia members associated with the Wazalendo are frequently accused of various abuses against civilians in Musienene and Baszagha. The main complaints from the people include looting, rape, arbitrary arrests, illegal tax collection, and the establishment of unauthorised roadblocks.

On Nov. 12, a young student was killed by gunshots during clashes between two factions of the Wazalendo militia at the Musimba market. Although these groups are considered allies of the Congolese army in its fight against Rwandan aggression, particularly in the conflict with the M23/AFC rebels, they are frequently accused of serious human rights abuses. Because they operate without proper oversight and often follow distinct commands, they frequently evade the attention of local authorities.

Dec. 12 (UPI) — El Salvador has reached an agreement with artificial intelligence company xAI, founded by Elon Musk, to introduce Grok-based tutoring in more than 5,000 public schools, a move President Nayib Bukele’s government describes as the world’s first fully AI-powered national education program.

The initiative, announced this week by the presidency, aims to provide personalized academic support to more than 1 million elementary and secondary school students. Officials said the rollout will take place gradually over the next two years as part of a plan to modernize the education system.

xAI said the partnership will allow students to access Grok, the company’s conversational AI model, adapted to El Salvador’s national curriculum and designed to provide real-time academic support.

“By bringing Grok to every student in El Salvador, we are putting advanced artificial intelligence in the hands of an entire generation,” the company said in a statement reviewed by La Prensa Gráfica.

El Salvador’s Ministry of Education said teachers will remain central to the learning process and will receive training to integrate the technology into classrooms. The ministry said the goal is to use AI to reinforce instruction, expand access to educational resources and reduce gaps between urban and rural areas.

Bukele described the agreement as part of a strategy to position the country as a global innovation laboratory. Local media reported the government views the initiative as an opportunity to “jump straight to the top” technologically, a phrase attributed to the president in recent announcements.

The ministry said Grok will offer adaptive learning experiences tailored to each student’s pace, while the government and xAI develop audit and security protocols to ensure responsible use of the tool in classrooms.

Authorities have not yet detailed the technical infrastructure required for the nationwide rollout, and questions remain about connectivity and device availability in remote areas.

The agreement deepens political and commercial ties between the Bukele administration and companies linked to Musk. El Salvador has previously worked with Starlink to expand internet coverage in rural areas, according to local reports, a move analysts say aligns with the country’s plans to build a technology-oriented economy.

Education specialists cited by Salvadoran media acknowledged the potential to expand access to digital tools but called for transparency as implementation moves forward.

Teachers’ unions and civil society organizations called for oversight mechanisms to ensure data protection, educator participation and equitable access for all students.

If implemented as announced, El Salvador would become the first country to adopt a national AI-based tutoring system, a model that could draw regional interest as several Latin American governments explore digital learning strategies at varying scales.

The presidency said it will release more details on the pilot phase, timeline and teacher training plans in early 2026.