LITIGATION

Appeals court denies plaintiffs' request for en banc review

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit has denied a request for an en banc review of the court's December decision involving NCAA initial-eligibility rules and jurisdictional issues.

An en banc review is a rehearing of a case before the entire appeals court. A three-judge panel of the court rejected the plaintiffs' arguments in the case in December.

The original complaint was filed in 1997 and claimed that Division I initial-eligibility standards have a disparate impact on African-American student-athletes in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The December decision, however, rejected the plaintiffs' claim that receipt of federal funds by the National Youth Sports Program subjects all of the NCAA's programs to Title VI scrutiny and that member schools, which are recipients of federal funds, ceded control of their athletics programs to the Association.

The decision almost certainly will keep the Association's current initial-eligibility standards in place for student-athletes first entering a college in the fall of 2000. The plaintiffs have up to 90 days from the appeals court's decision to petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Staff contact: Elsa Kircher Cole

PLAYING RULES

Football Rules Committee gives more protection to defense

The NCAA Football Rules Committee has approved rules changes for the 2000 season designed to protect defensive players from potentially harmful blocks.

One of the approved changes expands the definition of an illegal block to include any high-low or low-high combination block by any two offensive players when the initial contact clearly occurs beyond the neutral zone. Previously, such a block could have been considered legal if the contacts were simultaneous.

The committee also approved changes regarding blocking below the waist by offensive players set wide in a formation or in motion. Previously, offensive players positioned more than seven yards in any direction from the middle offensive lineman at the snap, or in motion toward the ball at the snap, were prohibited from blocking below the waist toward the original position of the ball, commonly referred to as a crack-back block, behind the neutral zone and within five yards beyond the neutral zone.

Now, the prohibition includes offensive players in motion in any direction. The area in which such a block is illegal increased to include the neutral zone and 10 yards beyond.

The committee also voted to prohibit offensive teams, while in the process of substitution or simulated substitution, from rushing quickly to the line of scrimmage and snapping the ball with the obvious attempt to create a defensive disadvantage.

Staff contact: Scott Deitch

INITIAL ELIGIBILITY

Technological improvements bring $150,000 in Clearinghouse savings

The Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse Committee recently reviewed cost savings realized from the 1998-99 fiscal year that totaled about $150,000.

The savings were driven primarily from:

* Institutions submitting students on an Institution Request List (IRL) via the Internet, as well as using the Internet to deactivate students on an IRL.

* Schools accessing student reports on the Web as opposed to having those reports mailed or sent via facsimile.

* Institutions accessing updated lists of high-school core courses on the Web. Those factors combined reduced costs in personnel, mailing, printing and telephone calls.

Some of the savings last year also could be attributed to students paying the increased Clearinghouse fee of $25.

The committee also recommended further Internet-based enhancements that will lead to additional savings for 1999-00.

<HREF="MAILTO:ROLIVER@NCAA.ORG"Robert A. Oliver