Wake Forest University President Thomas K. Hearn Jr. said the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics is taking a "wait and see" approach to the implementation of the NCAA's academic-reform initiatives.

The Knight Commission, which Hearn chairs, met May 23 in Washington, D.C. The Commission has supported NCAA reform efforts but has urged the NCAA to stand firm on their implementation. Some members of the Commission are concerned that many institutions will seek relief from penalties assessed through the new Academic Progress Rate (APR). The Commissioners believe the Division I Committee on Academic Performance, which oversees the implementation of academic reform, should act cautiously when considering waiver requests.

"There will be all kinds of problems, and we're going to have to work through them," Hearn said about the details of the APR. One of those details will be how student-athletes who leave school to pursue careers in professional sports, or who decide to transfer to another institution even though they are in good academic standing, affect a team's APR. Hearn said the Commission wants to wait until there are more years of APR data before making sweeping judgments about the program.

The Knight Commission also discussed its influence on reform in general. "If you look at what has happened in the NCAA over the past 15 years, it has been largely provoked by the work of the Knight Commission," Hearn said. "But we want to be useful going forward."

Commission member Carol Cartwright, who just completed a term as chair of the NCAA Executive Committee in April, said the Knight Commission has developed an understanding over time about where it can be a partner in reform and where it can effect change as an external agent.

"There are places where our reform agenda and values align with those of the NCAA, and it's proper to be supportive in that regard. But we understand the value of an outside voice, and we clearly are reserving for ourselves the right to comment when, for example, APR implementation issues begin to be addressed," said Cartwright, president at Kent State University. "Also, we will identify new items for our agenda where we believe that a group external to the NCAA may spur action."

The Knight Commission also talked about, but made few recommendations on, the issue of escalating costs in big-time college sports. The group heard a study by nationally known economists Peter and Jonathan Orszag and funded in part by the Mellon Foundation on the effects of capital spending in athletics. While the report, which supplements an earlier study on operating costs, still shows athletics spending to be a relatively small share of overall institutional spending, Commission members say they want more data before making long-term recommendations on budget matters.

Controlling expenses

Hearn, though, said it is clear that those interested in the future of intercollegiate athletics must find a way to control escalating expenses. "As the Knight Commission indicated recently in opposing the addition of the 12th Division I-A football game, we cannot resolve our fiscal challenges by burdening athletes with an additional game to generate revenue," he said. "Policy decisions, such as spending allocations and the number of games in a season, must be based on what is best for the academic and physical well-being of our athletes and what most closely aligns with the mission and values of our institutions of higher education."

He and other Commissioners questioned the capital expense report's focus on football stadium capacity as the sole indicator of an arms race and encouraged the NCAA to gather data from more Division I-A institutions so that a more thorough analysis of capital costs could drive future decisions.

Knight Commission members also discussed fiscal matters with several Division I-A conference commissioners, including Jim Delany of the Big Ten Conference, Mike Slive of the Southeastern Conference and John Swofford of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Britton Banowsky of Conference USA and Carolyn Schlie Femovich of the Patriot League also attended.

Others on the Knight Commission agenda were NCAA President Myles Brand, who talked with the group about the NCAA's recently established Task Force on the Future of Division I Intercollegiate Athletics. Commission member Peter Likins, president of the University of Arizona, chairs the task force, whose roster also contains three other Knight Commission members.

Tom Ingram of the Association of Governing Boards also met with the Commission to explore ways to better educate presidents and trustees about oversight and control of intercollegiate athletics.

Also, the Knight Commission unanimously agreed to support the an NCAA Executive Committee resolution urging the U.S. Department of Education to rescind its March 17, 2005, "Additional Clarification for Title IX." The clarification allows schools to prove compliance with meeting female students' interest in sports by administering an e-mail survey to enrolled students.