Thompson Plans to Boycott Game in NCAA Protest

Georgetown’s basketball coach, John Thompson, said Friday that he will walk off the court as soon as today’s game against Boston College starts, to protest the new National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rule on scholarships.

“I don’t want to threaten anybody; I don’t want to give any ultimatums,” Thompson said. “But when the ball goes up, I intend on getting up off the bench and walking out.”

Thompson said that he might boycott more than one game and that assistants Mike Riley and Craig Esherick would coach in his absence.

Thompson is protesting Proposal No. 42, approved at the NCAA convention in San Francisco Wednesday, which will prevent high school students who meet only part of the NCAA’s entrance criteria from receiving scholarships their first year in college.

The minimum criteria are a 2.0 grade-point average in a core curriculum and a minimum score on standardized entrance examinations.

Under Proposition 48, which has been in effect for 3 years, students could gain athletic scholarships by meeting just part of the standards--either the minimum grade-point average or a passing score on an entrance exam--but must sit out their freshman years.

Also protesting the new rule in separate statements Friday were Louisiana State basketball Coach Dale Brown, who said the NCAA “is without compassion in dealing with human beings,” and Temple basketball Coach John Chaney, who wants to sue the NCAA.

The new proposal was narrowly defeated Tuesday before passing Wednesday by a 163-154 vote.

“With the vote as close as it was,” Thompson said, “maybe it should have been tabled and discussed a little more, if it affects the outcome of someone’s life.

“In moral conscience, I feel it is my responsibility to take a stand on this,” added Thompson, who coached the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team to a bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Games. “I’m beginning to feel that a kid with a low socioeconomic background has been invited to dinner, had dessert and is now being asked to leave.”

Thompson contended that the minimum standards on college entrance examinations treat low-income youths unfairly.

“I’m in support of core curriculum. I’m in support of 2.0,” he said. “But I’m not in support of SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) scores which have been proven to be culturally biased.”

Thompson stopped short of calling the NCAA racist but said: “I feel it is a discriminatory thing, especially for a kid who is at a low socioeconomic level.

“If I jump up and down and holler racism, everyone will lose sight of the issue and focus on the words.”

But he conceded: “Certainly, it has an effect on black people. Athletics has been a vehicle and a way out, and in a lot of instances, the only hope a young person had. It (Proposal 42) is closing a lot of doors. It may not have been intended to do that, but that in fact is what it is going to do.”

Dave Cawood, the NCAA’s assistant executive director, said in a statement:

“I do not believe that the delegates who voted for the proposal considered it a racial issue but as a means to strengthen the academic entrance requirements for freshman students who will participate in athletics. Although this legislation only may be suspended by the Division I membership in a legislative session, I’m sure that the members will continue to closely review the subject prior to next January’s convention.”

Thompson said he planned to inform his players of his boycott decision later Friday.

Boston College Coach Jim O’Brien said he thinks that Thompson “has a very valid point, and he feels something needs to be done right now. . . . This is going to make a lot of noise.”

The Rev. Timothy Healy, Georgetown’s president, supported Thompson’s decision.

“I’m totally behind John,” he said. “As it now stands, if John has looked at a youngster, and he doesn’t have a 700 (on his SATs), no university aid can be given to that youngster. That’s an intrusion in Georgetown’s business by the NCAA, and that is unacceptable.”

Thompson said he didn’t know how long he would boycott NCAA-sanctioned games.

“It could be one day. It could be five days,” the coach said. “It could be one year.”

Thompson also complained that the timing of the NCAA convention in the middle of the basketball season puts coaches at a disadvantage.

Earlier Friday, LSU’s Brown also criticized the NCAA for tightening the academic standards for athletic scholarships.

“This country--which was founded by and for all people, and not a privileged few--must be vigilant that it does not turn into a society where those who do not meet elite standards are officially declared second-rate citizens,” said Brown from Lexington, Ky.

Brown was in favor of Proposition 48 when it was proposed five years ago, but he soon began to regard it as a stigma that follows a player through his college career and perhaps beyond. He has three partial qualifiers sitting out their freshman years this season.

He said the rule hits hardest at underprivileged youngsters least familiar with standardized tests.

“I am shocked and saddened at this incessant desire to label kids from the poorer strata as losers in the game of life,” Brown said.

“The most important rule for all of us to follow is that of respecting human dignity, and the NCAA certainly has not followed that rule.”

Brown added: “The penalty given to those who just didn’t have a high enough score on a test is far more severe than to an athlete who illegally secures a $25,000 automobile and other fringe benefits.

“He can be granted immunity by the NCAA if he turns in the guilty parties, when he is the most guilty.

“A youngster that did nothing illegal, but failed to meet a standard test score, is saved from the guillotine but is embarrassed in front of the whole world.

“That is not the justice that this great country stands for.”

Temple’s Chaney, who earlier referred to the NCAA as “that racist organization,” said: “There’s only one road left, and that is to take the NCAA to the courts.”

Calling himself, Thompson and Brown a “committee of three” fighting the new rules, Chaney said he would consider any means “humanly possible” to change the regulations.

“Every parent of every Proposition 48 youngster who is being deprived of an opportunity to go to college is willing to go court,” Chaney said, adding that he was referring to parents he has contacted. “I see no other way out.”

Chaney said that because nearly 90% of all Proposition 48 athletes in football and basketball are black, the rule is also a violation of civil rights.

“It’s a racist rule that has come up the pike by racist presidents. Forty of them and some of the coaches in this country as well,” Chaney said, referring to school presidents who drafted the measure.

“It has taken us back and will continue to take us back 50 years as far as I’m concerned. For an athletic association to dream up a nightmare for black youngsters is totally insane.”

An Associated Press survey last year found that almost 9 of 10 college football players who were disqualified for the 1988 season because of Proposition 48 were black.

Of the 274 football players who failed to meet the NCAA’s academic requirements in 1988, the AP was able to identify the race of 213, or 77.7%. A total of 185 players were black, 86.8% of those identified.

All 192 colleges and universities playing Division I-A and I-AA football responded to the AP survey, conducted from Aug. 26 to Sept. 2, 1988.

Ursula Walsh, director for research for the NCAA, told the AP that blacks accounted for 81% of football ineligibles in 1986, the first year of Proposition 48, and 90% in 1987, according to an NCAA survey.

Overall, 9.2% of college students are black, according to a survey taken in 1986 by the Department of Education. The only data on minority football players is a survey taken by the College Football Assn. in 1987 that showed 41% of the players at its schools were minorities. The CFA is composed of 66 Division I-A teams.

In the AP survey, Alcorn State and Bethune-Cookman, two predominantly black colleges, had the most ineligible players, 12 each.