Presidents Make Stand on Academics

The NCAA Presidents Commission, in decisions that could anger many coaches and administrators, is refusing to go along with softened academic requirements and is forcing a football playoff committee to disband.

A special academic committee had recommended on Tuesday that toughened freshman standards, Prop. 16, be relaxed. The committee said an additional 500 minority athletes would graduate under its new proposal, which reduces the importance of standardized test scores many blacks label as racially discriminatory.