NCAA Rule 48: Racism or Reform?

Abstract

During the Seventy-seventh Convention of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) the conferees were asked to consider for adoption twelve propositions concerning the academic eligibility of first-year athletes. Of the twelve academic-related rules adopted, the one that has generated the most reaction has been No. 48: Eligibility-2.000 Rule,' known as Rule 48. Rule 48 requires a student athlete to meet the following criteria in order to compete in an athletic activity during the freshman year at an NCAA Division One School: (1) earn a minimum grade-point average of 2.000 (4.00 = A) over a specific secondary core curriculum, and (2) obtain a minimum combined Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) score of 700 or a composite score of 15 on the American College Test (ACT). The 2.000 grade-point average is based on an eleven-course minimum academic core curriculum encompassing at least three courses in English, two in mathematics, two in the social sciences, and two in the natural or physical sciences (with at least one laboratory class, if offered by the high school). These courses must be certified on the high-school transcript or by official correspondence. Some of the convention conferees and observers have referred to this new rule as a racist, overtly exclusionary, and arrogant act.2 Other quarters have described Rule 48 as a recognition that colleges and universities must accept, or at least share, the responsibility for improving the quality of secondary and post-secondary educa-