NCAA Reforms Proposed to Fight ‘Integrity Crisis’

Citing a new nationwide survey showing that college presidents are “seriously dissatisfied” with their lack of control over athletic programs, a commission of the NCAA proposed a series of rules changes Friday that are designed to restore integrity to college sports.

A fourth of the college heads surveyed, however, doubted if the changes could ultimately guarantee honesty in athletics.

Indiana University President John W. Ryan, chairman of the NCAA Presidents’ Commission, said college sports are suffering from an “integrity crisis” and outlined the proposed rules changes, which involve increased monitoring and penalties.

Ryan said at a news conference that the proposals will be made during a special NCAA convention June 21-22 at New Orleans, site of the latest big-time college sports scandal, an alleged point-shaving scheme involving members of the Tulane University basketball team.

Although Ryan said that the Tulane affair had not influenced the timing of the commission survey, he added that it illustrates a widely perceived problem.

The commission sent questionnaires in December to 791 college heads, and 60% responded.

According to the report, football and basketball programs in Division I, the big-time sports schools, caused the most concern among college heads, “primarily because of the large financial stakes” in those sports.

It said that 72% of the college presidents viewed improper inducements to prospective athletes as a serious problem, followed by 63% who cited inadequate academic standards and performance criteria for athletes.

Violation of NCAA rules was a problem among alumni or program boosters and coaches, according to 97% of the college heads, and 89% cited athletes as a problem group.

Virtually all of the college presidents “are greatly concerned by the integrity crisis, by the apparent lack of sufficient institutional control of athletic programs and by the effect those problems have on the academic values of higher education,” Ryan said.

Specifically, his 44-member commission will propose:

--Control of athletic budgets by the institutions and approval by their presidents.

--Annual external audits of all athletic programs, with the presidents selecting the auditors.

--Reports from Division I schools on entrance requirements for freshman athletes, eligibility requirements for athletes to remain in school, and graduation rates for seniors.

--A distinction between major and secondary violations of NCAA rules, with specific penalties for each category.

--Penalties against athletes who knowingly violate NCAA rules.

Asked why some of the controls are not already in place, Ryan said he did not know. He added that he is unaware of any past effort to mandate either external audits or presidential control of athletic budgets but that he is familiar with the finances of his own university’s athletic programs.

Ryan repeatedly called on college presidents to appoint themselves as voting delegates to the New Orleans convention, but he rejected the notion that the proposals would not pass if the usual delegates--athletic directors and faculty members--were the majority. The presidents’ presence would be “symbolic as well as political,” he said.