NCAA Convention : School Presidents Tackle Question of Balance

The first two National Collegiate Athletic Assn. special conventions called by the Presidents’ Commission resulted in blockbuster legislation. With little opposition, the presidents tackled the question of integrity in college sports and emerged from a convention in 1985 with the “death penalties” for cheaters and from a convention in 1986 with Proposal 48, absolute academic guidelines.

The third special convention, which will be held Monday and Tuesday in Dallas, is expected to have a much different tone. The presidents have moved on to the questions of a proper balance between athletics and other programs at the schools and the proper role of athletics in higher education.

Much more debatable than integrity.

And debate is being officially encouraged. The official notice and program for the convention announced that the Commission was initiating a 12- to 18-month national forum for the open discussion of the question of balance.

Representatives of women’s athletics and also of several Olympic sports haven’t waited for the convention to open discussion. In the interest of getting intercollegiate athletics in “balance” the convention will consider legislation that would cut scholarships in the so-called “non-revenue sports,” and cut playing seasons in many sports that are crucial to the U.S. Olympic effort.

The women’s groups are having trouble finding a proper balance in the proposed scholarship cuts.

Donna Lopiano, director of women’s athletics at the University of Texas and a former president of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, has taken a good, hard look at the proposed scholarship cuts and has found inequity all around. When all the different proposals for cuts in Division 1-A are added up, they total 10.4% of the women’s scholarships and just 6.5% of the men’s scholarships.

The Women’s Sports Foundation has a problem with the cutbacks for women, and makes another conscience-tugging point: because the proposed cuts would be felt in basketball as well as track-and-field, sports that attract minority students, it would be minority women who would suffer the most.

Bracing against the argument that cuts must be made because of budgets, the women are ready with these facts--that other non-direct aid areas could be cut. For example, the University of Texas spends $385,000 a year on recruiting, while the proposed scholarship cuts would save the school just $80,000.

“I think it’s outrageous, utterly outrageous,” said Ellen Vargyas, a lawyer with the National Women’s Law Center. “I would hope that the NCAA would not take such an ill-considered move.

“If the NCAA does take this move and scholarships are cut back disproportionately for women, there are legal avenues to approach it. Litigation is difficult and time consuming, but I would hope that complaints would be filed with the Department of Education (which handles Title IX disputes).”

UCLA Athletic Director Pete Dalis said that representatives of some of the Olympic sports had been making their concerns known, too. “We need to be mindful of our country’s ability to compete internationally. The colleges are the gardens for growth in our Olympic sports . . .

“I think the NCAA membership needs to be more thoughtful when we submit legislation. We need time to develop the legislation and consider all the geo-political issues. We (the NCAA schools) are a very disparate group both in how we treat academics and how we treat college sports.”

So there will be some discussion on the floor of the convention and considerable politicking and compromising this time through.

The forum for discussing the questions of balance will officially begin Monday afternoon. The NCAA has chosen four primary speakers--Anthony F. Ceddie, president of Shippensburgh University of Pennsylvania; Ira Michael Heyman, chancellor of the University of California; Frank E. Horton, president of the University of Oklahoma, and Richard Warch, president of Lawrence University--to begin the forum.

Six others have been chosen to respond--Raymond Burse, president of Kentucky State University;Notre Dame Athletic Director Eugene F. Corrigan; University of Minnesota President Kenneth H. Keller; Lopiano; Michigan Football Coach Bo Schembechler, and University of Virginia Faculty Representative D. Alan Williams.