Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 12, 1992 TAG: 9201120092
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL BRILL SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: ANAHEIM, CA. LENGTH: Medium
PROP 16 MERITS DEBATED
First, there was Proposition 48, then Proposition 42, which caused John Thompson to walk off the basketball court.In 1992, we have Proposal 16.
All of these are presidential directives aimed at making it academically tougher for high school athletes to get scholarships.
When Prop 48 was adopted in 1983, and until it went into effect in 1986, traditionally black universities and several members in the Big East complained vigorously that it was discriminatory.
Even now, the objections continue over the use of standardized test scores in Prop 48, which require a 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test along with a 2.0 grade-point average in 11 core courses.
Five years later, Prop 48 appears to be working. Even critics like North Carolina A&T chancellor Edward Fort agreed on that.
Now, a more restrictive requirement has been passed by delegates to the NCAA Convention. Proposal 16 will permit indexing, which means that an athlete with a 2.0 GPA in the 13 required courses can be admitted as long he or she has a 900 on the SAT.
The better the grade-point average, the lower test score required. But the presidents held firm on the 700 minimum; that test score will require a 2.5 GPA.
Critics, including Georgetown athletic director Frank Rienzo and Temple athletic director Charlie Theokas, joined with black administrators to make emotional appeals against the proposal.
They argued that minority students would be denied access to schools at a disproportionate number. But they made the same argument against Prop 48, and, since its implementation, there are more blacks playing football and basketball than ever.
More important, blacks who qualified under Prop 48 graduated at a rate 10 times higher than those who didn't but still were admitted.
William DeLauder, president of Delaware State, said 53 percent of blacks didn't make a 2.5 GPA in high school, 62 percent didn't achieve a 700 on the SAT and 70 percent wouldn't qualify under Proposal 16.
Gerald Turner of Mississippi, chairman of the Presidents Commission, countered that the effect would be the same, given new academic requirements, the student-athletes would buckle down and achieve them.
That has been the positive message of Prop 48, and clearly that's what the presidents hope will happen by the year 2000 with Proposal 16, which doesn't go into effect until the '96-97 school year.
Not that Proposal 16 is without flaws. Many administrators dislike the indexing, which, they believe, favors the underachiever.
"A kid who makes 900 on the boards and just a 2.0 is lazy," said Duke athletic director Tom Butters. "But somebody who has a 700 and a 2.5 has worked hard."
Terry Holland, the former Virginia basketball coach and now athletic director at Davidson, said, "The 900/2.0 kid will be white. The black kid with 900 will have had a good background, and he'll do better than that."
What Holland likes about the sliding scale is that "it will permit students to take tougher courses; if they have a good test score, they can have a 2.2 in difficult classes and still qualify."
Most ACC schools disliked the rule that requires 75 percent of college course work to be taken in the regular session, but they concede the need for it because there are summer-school abuses elsewhere.
Richard McGuire, academic adviser at Virginia, said one of the most difficult new eligibility rules requires athletes to have 75 percent of their degree work completed after four years.
While that seems harmless enough, McGuire said, it could have an impact because "a lot of kids are late choosing a major, they change majors, and even though they eventually graduate, they won't meet that requirement after four years."
Although it will require continued paperwork, ACC officials were delighted with the rule that requires basketball prospects to qualify on the SAT and carry a 2.0 GPA before their senior year or they can't make a paid recruiting trip before the early signing period in November.
"That's my favorite proposal," said Maryland athletic director Andy Geiger.
The idea had been proposed to the Knight Commission last year by Georgetown's Thompson, who said it was hypocritical to give paid recruiting trips to athletes who hadn't qualified.