The NCAA News - News and Features

August 17, 1998

Minority opportunities committee endorses full sliding scale

The NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee has voted to endorse a full sliding scale as a method of determining initial-eligibility for student-athletes.

The decision, reached during the committee's August 4-5 meeting in Baltimore, resulted from a discussion of four models under consideration by the Division I Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet Subcommittee on Initial-Eligibility Issues regarding initial-eligibility standards.

The models are part of a survey the subcommittee has distributed to Division I institutions for comment by September 2.

The full sliding scale model (model No. 4 in the survey) would eliminate the absolute minimum core grade-point average and standardized test score needed for eligibility and instead base eligibility for all student-athletes on a test-grades combination score.

Other models being considered by the initial-eligibility subcommittee include retaining the current standards; including the current group of partial qualifiers as qualifiers; or extending the sliding scale to 600 SAT/51 ACT.

The Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee has expressed concern over the current standards and their disparate impact on minority student-athletes' access to higher educational opportunities. The committee supported the full sliding scale based on its desire to increase access to athletics participation without compromising academic standards.

"There's a perception out there that the full sliding scale would indicate a lowering of eligibility standards, but that isn't the case," said Charles Whitcomb, chair of the committee and faculty athletics representative at San Jose State University. "The full sliding scale is much more inclusive than exclusive, and the data show that the partial qualifiers identified by the current standards are likely to perform as well, if not better, in the classroom as full qualifiers."

Whitcomb said that minorities appear to be the group most adversely affected by the current standards and that it is the committee's desire to establish initial-eligibility standards that treat all constituent groups equitably.

"The concept of increasing access within a fair and equitable set of standards always has been a committee priority," Whitcomb said. "The full sliding scale is what the committee believes to be the most inclusive way to achieve that goal -- and not just for African Americans, but for all groups."

The committee forwarded its support for the full sliding scale to an ad hoc committee on diversity issues that reports to the Divisions I, II and III presidential governance groups, and will present its position during an August 19 videoconference scheduled to summarize initial-eligibility data and review the models submitted regarding the standards.

In other action, the committee reviewed correspondence from Stephen Kaufman, a professor at the University of Illinois, Champaign, regarding the issue of racial stereotyping in mascots at NCAA institutions. The committee reviewed a video entitled "In Whose Honor?," a film depicting the confrontation of the issue of racial mascots in sports.

Central to the film is the story of an Illinois student's efforts to focus nationwide attention to possible racial stereotypes portrayed by the Illinois mascot.

Though the committee respects of each institution's authority regarding choice of mascot, it expressed concern regarding any type of representation from any group that appears to have racial overtones and suggested that this and similar issues be considered as part of an institution's certification process.

The committee will forward its recommendation to the Committee on Athletics Certification, and also will send the issue to the divisional student-athlete advisory committees for further review.

Other highlights

Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee
August 4-5/Baltimore