DRUG TESTING

Three-quarters of respondents favor year-round NCAA testing

The 2003 Drug Education and Testing Survey revealed that 74 percent of the institutions that responded prefer that the NCAA conduct year-round drug testing in all sports.

The biannual survey produced responses from 49 percent of member institutions.

The survey also found that 47 percent of responding institutions conduct their own drug testing, and of those institutions, only 43 percent test for anabolic agents. However, testing for recreational drugs has increased, with 98 percent testing for marijuana and 64 percent for ecstasy.

For more information, see page 6.

STAFF CONTACT: Mary Wilfert (mwilfert@ncaa.org)

GRADUATION RATES

Division I-A football's best rate produces match of division high

The NCAA's latest Division I graduation-rates research for the entering class of 1997 shows a three-percentage-point increase in the rate at which Division I-A football student-athletes earned their degrees. Football's graduation rate of 57 percent for the 1997 class is the highest in the sport since the NCAA began tracking graduation rates with the 1984 class.

Also, the overall student-athlete rate of 62 percent matches the all-time high set by the 1996 class. The graduation rate for the general student body rose by a percentage point, to 60 percent, but the student-athlete graduation rate continues to be at least equal to or higher than the overall student population.

Rates in men's basketball remained steady at 44 percent, but rates in women's basketball dropped from 66 percent to 64 percent, the first decrease since 1992.

STAFF CONTACT: Todd Petr (tpetr@ncaa.org)

GENDER EQUITY

Report indicates steady rate of female sports participation

The latest NCAA Gender Equity Report shows little increase in participation in women's athletics compared to their male counterparts since the 2001-02 study.

The most recent report, which includes responses from 852 member schools, shows that men's and women's athletics participation in Division I held steady at 56 and 44 percent, respectively. Division I-A and Division II saw a 1 percent increase in the proportion of female student-athletes and Division III saw a 2 percent increase.

Participation in women's athletics was at 40 percent or more for all divisions, including a 44 percent participation rate in Division I. In Division III, male and female student-athletes averaged an equal proportion, the only division to post equal figures.

The rate of increase for women outpaced that for men in some financial categories, including Division I scholarship spending.

STAFF CONTACT: Todd Petr (tpetr@ncaa.org)

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