National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

November 10, 1997

Government LD findings under review

The NCAA membership services staff and general counsel are reviewing a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice that claims that the Association discriminates against student-athletes with learning disabilities.

The Association's initial review of the correspondence indicates some confusion by the Justice Department about the NCAA's current accommodations and rules for learning-disabled student-athletes.

The NCAA believes several of the Justice Department's suggestions for changes concern initiatives the NCAA already has implemented.

In a letter dated October 17, the Justice Department notified the NCAA that on the basis of two years of discussion with the Association, the department finds the NCAA to be in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act in regard to accommodating learning disabilities of student-athletes.

The Justice Department has requested a meeting with the NCAA to further discuss the NCAA's accommodations. Although a meeting has not yet been scheduled, the NCAA is agreeable to such a meeting.

The NCAA stressed that discussions between the Justice Department and the NCAA concerning the learning-disability issue have been cooperative, not adversarial.

The Justice Department letter was issued as a result of complaints filed by the families of five student-athletes with learning disabilities as a result of NCAA initial-eligibility determinations in their situations.

One example of a misunderstanding by the Justice Department concerns the Association's accommodations for learning-disabled student-athletes. The department suggests that the NCAA body that reviews requests for initial-eligibility waivers should contain persons with expertise in learning disabilities; in fact, all Division I members of the subcommittee on initial-eligibility waivers have that expertise.

The Justice Department also said the NCAA should publicize the option for a waiver application. The NCAA has a box on the student release form for the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse for students to check if they want information on accommodations available to a student with a learning disability.

In April, the NCAA mailed a packet explaining accommodations for and efforts to support students with learning disabilities to students who requested it by checking the box. The packet featured a brochure with information to assist those students working their way through the NCAA initial-eligibility process, including information about the process for requesting a waiver of the initial-eligibility rules.

Another point by the Justice Department was that the NCAA should publicize the criteria the initial-eligibility subcommittee uses in reviewing applications for waivers so that schools and parents know what to address in their written statements accompanying waiver applications. The NCAA publicizes that information through The NCAA News and information sent annually to the country's 19,000 high schools.

During the two-year dialogue with the Justice Department, the NCAA has reviewed several of its policies and introduced changes to the Association's governing bodies, which must make any changes in the initial-eligibility rules.

Among the accommodations the NCAA has for prospective student-athletes with learning disabilities are:

  • The opportunity for learning-disabled students to initiate their own waiver appeal without waiting for the university or college to do so. Before changes were made, only an NCAA member institution could request the waiver.

  • Taking into account different learning styles by approving qualified special education courses as core courses.

  • Setting guidelines to allow for the use of nonstandard testing.

  • Accepting course work completed between the time of graduation from high school and full-time collegiate enrollment. Learning-disabled students can now take courses in summer school after graduation and before enrolling in college.

    The NCAA continues to believe that Title III of the ADA, under which the Justice Department issued its opinion, is not applicable to the NCAA because the law applies only to public accommodations. Despite that claim, the Association has worked with the Justice Department to explain the Association's accommodations for learning-disabled students.

    The Justice Department has proposed a settlement that would restore a fourth year of eligibility for 34 athletes who were declared partial qualifiers because the NCAA determined the learning-disabled classes they took in high school did not meet the Association's core-course standards as established by the NCAA membership. The proposed settlement also would provide monetary compensation for expenses incurred by the families of the athletes who filed the complaints with the Justice Department.

    Agreement on those issues, as well as modifications in the NCAA initial-eligibility rules through the Divisions I and II governance structure regarding prospective student-athletes with learning disabilities, could keep the Justice Department investigation from going into litigation.