Boston Globe -- Derrick Z. Jackson columns

Setting the retirement bar on concussions

Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Columnist — 2009-11-28T02:03:24Z

One of the nation's top football brain injury researchers told me there needs to be a discussion of a "threshold number" of concussions that rules out a player forever. Based on what we are learning, three, perhaps even two should be enough.

AD:

2009-11-28T02:03:24Z

Football’s loss a win for NU students

Derrick Z. Jackson — 2009-11-24T02:10:23Z

Northeastern University was correct in dropping its football program, which will allow it to put greater resources into academic needs, as well as other sports.

Drug firms’ tired song and dance on reform

Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Columnist — 2009-11-21T02:32:09Z

In the summer, the drug companies offered $8 billion a year over 10 years in drug cost cuts. Big Pharma has taken the savings off the table. A new AARP analysis has found that drug companies raised their prices for prescription drugs by 9.3 percent over the last year, amounting to $10 billion in new revenues.

Changing the climate on Capitol Hill

Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Columnist — 2009-11-17T01:02:59Z

President Obama needs to shut down business as usual against climate change at home before he can make progress abroad.

Give college athletes a cut of the action

Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Columnist — 2009-11-14T01:51:56Z

It is galling to have 25 universities, 23 of them public institutions, willing to pay $2 million or more for football coaches at this nadir of the economy, with soaring tuitions and slashed state budgets for faculty. But if colleges are that crazy to blow this money they should include the players.

Taking a walk shouldn’t be a contact sport

Derrick Z. Jackson — 2009-11-10T04:57:31Z

While the Boston area is ranked among the best places for pedestrians in the United States, there is much that could be done to improve safety and the outdoor experience for walkers and bike riders.

College presidents are flunking the salary test

Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Columnist — 2009-11-07T01:37:23Z

Compensation packages bear no resemblance to the world beneath college presidents. The American Dream is being fogged as parents drown in debt, students spend more time working to pay off campus fees rather than studying, and professors try to feed the brains of students with slashed resources.

NFL’s brain-jarring hits reverberate through time

Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Columnist — 2009-10-31T02:05:12Z

Without a serious change in how the head is used in football, there is no telling what damage we will see tomorrow. In the pros, players have grown so much bigger and faster that what was once a collision between a Volkswagen and a bus is now between an sport utility vehicle and a semitrailer.