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.”
