Disclosure, faculty oversight would prevent fraud cases

Jon Ericson, former professor
Drake University
USA Today

Discussing recent allegations of academic fraud in several men's basketball programs:

"The cynicism ought to be sky-high. The universities are secret societies. And therefore we don't know what goes on behind closed doors at each university, so we shouldn't be surprised that all this has happened. The only answer is disclosure. I think (academic fraud) is just going to continue until we treat these secret societies the way professors say we should treat Enron and the Catholic church. We want the responsibility of this academic fraud to go exactly where it should, to the faculty and administration."

Morgan Burke, athletics director
Purdue University
Indianapolis Star

Discussing continued strengthening of initial-eligibility standards:

"If you do that, perhaps some of the pressure of bringing kids in that are not capable of doing the work academically will lessen because they are not going to get in anyway. (Those players are) what the NBA and the foreign leagues are for. If a youngster doesn't want to be here, or wants to be here for one year, I generally don't want them here.

"Sometimes, the general public has a tendency to look at (the NCAA) as a bridge between the NBA or the NFL. We're not."

Pay for play

Allen Sack, professor
University of New Haven
Christian Science Monitor

"When I played football for the University of Notre Dame in the 1960s, the NCAA had already compromised its half-century commitment to amateur principles. In 1956, NCAA rules allowed universities to offer talented players 'scholarships' to pay for room, board, tuition, and fees. Nonetheless, the four-year 'no-cut' scholarship I received back then drove home the point that Notre Dame was committed to me as a student for four years, regardless of my performance on the playing field. As a result, not only did I enjoy the success of playing on a championship team, I got the message that education was what really mattered.

Unfortunately, since I graduated from Notre Dame, the NCAA has given scholarships all the trappings of an employment contract. In 1967, for instance, rules were adopted that allow the immediate termination of scholarship aid to athletes who voluntarily withdraw from sports. By 1973, four-year scholarships were replaced with grants whose renewal is determined on a year-to-year basis. Coaches can now 'fire' players who sustain injuries or who turn out to be recruiting mistakes. Because coaches control financial aid, athletes have little choice but to make athletics their top priority. ...

"There is, however, a far more practical alternative for restoring academic and fiscal integrity in collegiate sports than open professionalism. That alternative is to eliminate athletics scholarships altogether.

"By replacing athletics scholarships with need-based financial aid, most athletics programs could reduce current budget deficits, better meet the requirements of Title IX, and, most important, maintain college athletes as an integral part of the student body."