Survey shows exceptions favor athletes
ms
By Sara Bauder Schott
Senior Reporter
An NCAA survey shows that a dispropor
tionate number of athletes are admitted to
universities and colleges as exceptions, but an
NCAA official says those figures are meaning
less.
Ursula Walsh, director of research for the
NCAA, said the figures on admission excep
tions will be omitted from future NCAA stud
ies because they are inaccurate.
For Division I-A schools, w hich compete at
the highest level of collegiate athletics, 11.7
percent of athletes nationally w ere classified as
special admits. Only 2.8 percent of other stu
dents were special admits.
The percentage of admission exceptions
was even higher for football and basketball
players, at 20.6 percent.
An admission exception, or special admit, is
a student who did not meet regular college
admission requirements but was admitted to an
institution anyway.
Walsh said the figures are useless because
academic admission requirements vary among
institutions. A university with open admis
sions, for example, would not have special
admits because everybody is admitted, she
said.
At some prestigious private schools, almost
everyone can be considered a special admit
because each person is looked at individually,
Walsh said.
Instead of averaging figures into national
statistics, Walsh said, each school should be
examined individually.
"This has to be done institution by institu
tion," she said. “And then you have to know
what the figure means for that particular insti
tution."
Walsh said her primary concern is that ath
letes have a chance to succeed in school. Most
good athletic departments have a support sys
tem of tutoring programs and academic help to
ensure success for athletes, she said.
"There is no question that football and bas
ketball players are less prepared for college,”
Walsh said. She said the players earn lower
Scholastic Aptitude Test and American Col
lege Test scores than the overall student body.
John Beacon, director of admissions at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said he does
not keep records on how many athletes are
admission exceptions.
The admissions office has no way ol know
ing whether an application comes from a re
cruited football player or a tuba player, Beacon
said. He said the office only looks at a potentia
student’s high school record and standardized
lest scores. .
To be admitted to UNL, students must rank
either in the upper halt ol their class, score a
on the enhanced ACT, or have completed a
core of certain courses in high school, Beacon
said.
If students do not meet one of those require
ments, they can be conditionally admitted to
UNL if they have completed three years of
English and one year of algebra in high school,
Beacon said. Then they must remove academic
deficiencies w ithin 24 credit hours, he said.
A1 Papik, assistant athletic director for ad
ministrative services and NCAA compliance
coordinator at UNL, said that in the past two
years, the athletic department has had no spe
cial admits.
The university could admit students who do
not meet regular or conditional admission re
quirements, Papik said. The NU Board of Regents
has a 5-pcrccnt rule, he said, meaning that
special admits cannot exceed 5 percent of the
student body.
Papik said that even if someone who does
not meet the admission requirements gets into
the university, the athlete would not meet the
NCAA’s Proposition 48 requirements.
Athletes who don’t meet the proposition re
quirements cannot receive athletic financial
aid, cannot play or practice and lose a year of
eligibility, Papik said.
Most athletes w ho would have trouble get
ting into a university go to a junior college and
get a degree before coming to a Division 1-A
school, Papik said.
Council
Continued from Page 1
among the institutions.
• Provide recommendations to the
Legislature on or for legislation af
fecting higher education.
Council members rejected a pro
posal to set objective guidelines for
the coordinating commission when
considering budget requests.
The statement, proposed by Rich
Bringelson, executive officer of the
Nebraska State College Board of
Trustees, would have slated that
“reviews of capital and operative
budget requests shall take into con
sideration items such as areas of ex
cellence, objective criteria, and role
and mission assignments.”
State college officials felt that the
absence of these guidelines could result
in struggles over financing at the
expense of student services.
Keith Blackledgc, chairman of the
Board of Trustees, said it would be a
mistake not to give the coordinating
commission guidelines to use when
reviewing budgets.
The review of budgets should put a
focus on the role and mission of each
university, he said.
The NU Board of Regents and the
State College Board of Trustees sup
port the more powerful coordinating
commission. Amendment 4, while the
Nebraska Technical Community
College Association is neutral.
Tom Johnston, executive director
of the Nebraska Technical Commu
nity Colleges, said community col
lege officials feel the governing board
would endanger them.
Officials fear their operation would
become more complicated if com
munity colleges were under a state
wide coordinating commission since
they would face another level of bu
reaucracy.
“This would be the terror of com
munity colleges,” Johnston said.
Regent John Payne of Kearney
opposed the amendment, but said he
wants to make sure the wording is
specific.
“It’s tough to undo a constitutional
amendment,” Payne said.
Blacklcdge said, “We’ve cussed
and discussed the lack of authority of
the present coordinating commission
for as long as I’ve had knowledge of
it.
“The longer we talk about it, the
more likely we are to agree with John
Payne,” Blacklcdge said, laughing.
Blackledge said the present lan
guage of the amendment was a step in
the right direction.
In other business:
• The council unanimously op
posed Measure 405, saying it would
place a “unrealistic and punitive” 2
percent lid on sectors of public higher
education. The lid, which will be voted
on Nov. 6, would restrict state and
local governments to spending in
creases of 2 percent each year.
• State Sens. Lorraine Langford
of Kearney and Ron W i them of Papi 1 -
lion gave support for the Midwest
Higher Education Compact.
Under the compact, students would
be able to participate in out-of-state
programs that aren’t offered at their
schools without having to pay non
resident tuition. The compact would
become effective when enacted into
law by five slates prior to Dec. 31,
1995. Nebraska is considering mem
bership.
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