Eligibility for Participation

Freshmen Ineligibility in Intercollegiate Athletics - In April of 2015 the Big Ten Conference circulated a white paper, Education First, Athletics Second: The Time for a National Discussion is Upon Us, that proposed freshmen ineligibility for Division I football and men’s basketball players. The white paper argued that freshman ineligibility would benefit athletes academically, but that it should only apply to […]
Dancing Partners: The NCAA and the Knight Commission - It seems that there is no end to the means to which the NCAA and the KCIA will go to defend the NCAA’s big-money turf and the status quo in collegiate athletics. The Kirwan-Turner opinion piece had a clear ring to it—prompting a question: Isn’t the pot calling the kettle black? »Read more
The Academic Performance of College Athletes: No Doubt Worse Than Reported - In a nutshell, like graduation rates, the NCAA’s member institutions self assess and report graduation rates and academic progress rates without independent oversight. As Walter Byers, who served as NCAA executive director from 1951 to 1987, said when speaking of a college’s reporting on the necessary progress that has been made on the rehabilitation of […]