There is no older malady of intercollegiate athletics -- or sports in general, for that matter -- than sports wagering. Gambling on sports likely has been around since man first tested his physical prowess against some challenge. In fact, I have had serious-minded individuals suggest to me that betting on college sports has increased the popularity of college sports. But the point often missed is that sports wagering is an insidious, dangerous behavior. It can ruin lives and the integrity of sports as a whole. And its greatest ally is our indifference to the warning signs.

Intercollegiate athletics has been no more immune to the ravages of sports wagering than any other athletics enterprise. In the last decade, we have had two major point-shaving cases at two of our most visible member institutions. At the same time, our efforts have intensified to identify the depth of the problem, work with law enforcement agencies, collaborate with other sports entities, educate athletics administrators and student-athletes, legislate penalties for participation in athletics gambling, and generally sound an alarm about the risk and threat associated with sports wagering. In the last two years, we have given significant support to efforts by the United States Congress to fight Internet gambling and to end legalized sports wagering in Las Vegas.

The bottom line: It would be a boon to our efforts in fighting sports wagering if there was no legal open book on intercollegiate athletics anywhere in the country. It would send a clear and consistent message -- one that is confused today by the glamour Las Vegas brings to sports wagering -- that betting on student-athletes is wrong. It's wrong all the time. It's wrong everywhere.

But like other issues facing intercollegiate athletics, the real will to act must be found locally on the campuses of NCAA member institutions. The deadly disease that is invading the body of intercollegiate athletics is the illegal bookmaking operation that has become a cottage industry on virtually every college campus or the Internet gambling that takes place in the privacy of a dorm room. The very thing that every athletics administrator fears the most, the bookie who entices a student-athlete to wager, is living as a parasite within the comfortable confines of the college campus. The wagers produce winners until the student-athlete is hooked, and then the wagers become losses, the losses become debt, and the debt becomes an obligation that the student-athlete can meet only by manipulating the outcome of a contest. And the next scandal in intercollegiate athletics is underway.

No matter how many resources the national office brings to this issue, the war must be waged on the campus. Too many higher education administrators deny that the problem even exists on their campuses. Yet, law enforcement tells us that no campus in America is secure. They believe that student bookie operations exist at every institution of higher education in all three divisions. As with most other remedies, the first step is acknowledging the problem and then seeking help. For more information about how to combat illegal sports wagering on your campus and how the NCAA can help, go to the NCAA Web site's enforcement/gambling page.

Here are eight questions you should ask on your campus that will help determine whether you have an illegal gambling problem. And remember, if there are illegal bookmaking operations on or near campus, organized crime is probably present as well.

We may never be rid of legal or illegal betting on college sports, but we cannot remain indifferent to the risk and threat. And we cannot wait for someone else to cure the illnesses that thrive in our own back yards.