
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 5, 1993                   TAG: 9306050195
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

THE WRONG IMPRESSION

Jack Bogaczyk's column in the Roanoke Times & World-News on May 23 repeats some old stories about Virginia Tech athletics. Unfortunately, it also relies upon the NCAA graduation rate report, which uses old data, thus perpetuating erroneous attitudes about Tech athletes. We think your readers would be interested in knowing the current story.

The NCAA uses six-year graduation rates averaged across the incoming class of 1983 through 1985. Those were not good years for recruiting viable, academically qualified athletes and were the source of many of the problems well-documented in news stories since then.

When looking at graduation rates for entering classes after 1987, an entirely different picture emerges. (Note this is only a five-year rate, which is more conservative than the six-year rate used by NCAA.) Changes begun under former Virginia Tech President Bill Lavery and implemented by Jerry Via, coordinator of advising for student athletics, have reaped tremendous dividends.

Bottom line: Today, Virginia Tech athletes graduate at a higher rate - 70 percent - than the entire student body, 64 percent. Even more striking is that 73 percent of African-American athletes who entered in 1987 have completed their degrees.

This is not an organization dwelling on the past. Give credit where credit is due. We are committed to attracting young men and women who can compete both on the field and in the classroom. When considering the evidence for our 18 intercollegiate athletic programs, we are doing just that.

WANDA HANKINS DEAN

VIRGINIA TECH REGISTRAR BLACKSBURG

by CNB