Black Students Unfairly Affected, Suit says
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has been hit with a lawsuit that charges that the association discriminates against Blacks by using freshman academic standards that are racially and culturally biased.
The Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ) filed the class action suit against the NCAA in a Philadelphia federal court alleging that the use of the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) or the American College Test (ACT) violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits race discrimination by educational institutions receiving federal funds.
The suit was filed on behalf of two 1996 graduates of Philadelphia's Simon Gratz High School. Tai Kwan Cureton and Leatrice Shaw claim they were recruited for track teams at numerous NCAA Division I institutions, but the recruiting stopped after they received low test scores.
Under NCAA regulations, in order to compete as freshmen, student athletes must meet a sliding scale of SAT or ACT scores and grade-point average. The minimum acceptable SAT combined math and verbal score is 820. Athletes who fall short of the standards cannot compete as freshmen. The NCAA adopted the rules, known as Proposition 48, ten years ago because of dismal graduation rates by student athletes, particularly Blacks.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction prohibiting the NCAA from enforcing the minimum test score requirement and forcing it to allow affected student athletes to regain their lost years of athletic eligibility. The NCAA responded to the suit by saying that the standards are in place to prevent the exploitation of student athletes.
"Before the eligibility standards, some student athletes, including minority student athletes, were brought to campus solely for their athletic ability, with little chance for them to graduate," said Dan Boggan, chief operating officer of the association. "The Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, with its lawsuit, is advocating a return to the bad old days when student athletes could spend four years representing an NCAA member institution in athletics and leaving not only with no diploma but without any real education at all."
