Todd Turner, director of athletics
Vanderbilt University
Athletic Management

"It simply may not be in our best interests to deregulate. Our jobs are to administer each sport appropriately and in a way that's fair for all. If that means that we have to create a different set of guidelines for tennis and lacrosse, then in my opinion that's what we need to do. That may make things more complicated, but I think you've got to do what's right for the sports themselves."

Lori Runksmeier, director of athletics
New England College
Athletic Management

"I think deregulation can be worthwhile if it can truly rid Division III of rules that were really created for Division I programs. For instance, this year's deregulation package did away with a lot of the restrictions regarding a coach's outside income. Really, in Division III, we don't need restrictions on coaches' outside incomes. The key is to keep the Division III philosophy at the heart of decisions that are made for Division III.

"I actually think that in Division III we should try to pass blanket laws for all the sports. The Division III philosophy, as I understand it, is that athletics should be about the student-athlete. To me, a women's lacrosse player deserves every bit the same experience a men's basketball player does.

"At this level, I can't philosophically justify tiering sports. None of my sports are revenue producers. None of my sports are going to make money for New England College. So how can I say that a men's basketball player should get treated any differently than a women's lacrosse player? I can't do that."

Jerry Hughes, director of athletics
Central Missouri State University
Athletic Management

"Our (Division II) efforts over the last two years -- simplifying recruiting a year ago, financial aid this year -- have been effective. This next year we're looking at playing and practice seasons: what you can do during the season, what you can do out of season. Some of the out-of-season stuff, especially, can help Division II because right now teams are pretty much playing year-round.

"For example, some restrictions on the playing and practice seasons will give student-athletes more time to be students. I think the way the playing and practice season rules are written now leaves student-athletes little time to take a break.

"Hopefully, if we put some limits on the nontraditional season, that will allow those students to spend more time on academics during that season. Some kids will like that and other kids won't. But I think it's good to allow the kids to be students."

Athletics and higher education

Jeffrey Orleans, executive director
Ivy Group
Daily Pennsylvanian

Discussing recently published books about the role of athletics in higher education, including "The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values" by James Shulman and William Bowen:

"I don't think there is any serious discussion about the value of athletics as an educational activity. The whole thing the book doesn't deal with that's not as easily measurable is, what kind of people are they because they've been athletes?"

College preparatory tests

John H. McWhorter, associate professor
University of California, Berkeley
The Chronicle of Higher Education

Discussing a proposal to eliminate the SAT requirement as a method of gaining admission to colleges and universities:

"A great deal of evidence suggests that a significant reason why the black-white gap in test scores persists is not class, but culture. One legacy of segregation and disenfranchisement, for example, is a sense among many black teen-agers that excelling in school is 'acting white.' Various shades of that sentiment drag down the performance of even the black students who are trying their best. The culturally ingrained sense that school is external to black identity subtly prevents them from developing the obsession that is vital to top-level performance. ...

"If class-related issues are not the main culprit, then our goal must be to eliminate the understandable, but debilitating, cultural barriers to success among black and other minority students. Surely that would be a wiser strategy than eliminating a useful component of the admissions process to assuage well-intentioned, but misplaced, white guilt."

Title IX and sports sponsorship

Kent Bailo, director
U.S. Girls'/Women's Wrestling Association
Wrestling USA Magazine

"I believe that interest follows opportunity, not the other way around. (The perceived lack of interest in women's wrestling and football) is in the way girls are questioned about their interest in the sport.

"If a high school with 2,000 students had an assembly (half girls) and the speaker asked the girls, 'How many of you are interested in playing football (or wrestling)?', only a few hands would go up because the girls make the assumption that the question means, 'How many of you want to play football or wrestling on the boys' team?' ...

"Have you ever heard the saying, 'I have met the enemy, and he is me'? That's what I think of when I read the articles by the wrestling coaches who in my mind I label the 'Title IX fighters.' Their mentality reminds me of those who fought against civil rights legislation in the 1960s or those who fought against women's right to vote in the 1920s. Have you ever heard of a minor sport being threatened with being cut, offer to continue, but start a women's team and give them half of their scholarships? The answer to the survival of men's wrestling is women's wrestling. The answer to the survival of all college athletics is to make the big-money sports answer to the general student body and demand that for every men's sport there is the same women's sport."