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The University of North Carolina (UNC) successfully maintains both a high-quality academic program and a number of NCAA Division I athletic teams that are frequently nationally ranked. UNC's 72% graduation rate for student athletes from 1994 through 1997 is one of the highest in the US for a public university. Its women's programs in soccer, field hockey, basketball and swimming are among the nation's best. For nearly 40 years, the UNC athletics program has avoided serious scandal. UNC's athletic success, however, still involves making compromises in admissions standards and other controversial academic areas.

The overall graduation rate for college athletes was 1% higher than the total student body at 58% but male basketball players achieved only a 44% graduation rate, significantly below all other rates. White male basketball players showed a drop in graduation rates from 62% to 53% since the National Collegiate Athletic Assn increased academic standards. Women athletes had higher graduation rates with whites attaining 70% and blacks 58%, most likely due to their realistic knowledge of employment possibilities. Basketball players are penalized by a season crossing two semesters.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) will loosen its academic standards for college athletes with learning disabilities. By agreement with the Justice Department, the NCAA will certify special education classes offered to high school students with learning disabilities toward its initial-eligibility requirements, rather than counting them as remedial courses. Greater flexibility in eligibility requirements may follow. (MSE)

Salaries of head coaches in college sports are rising, but a large salary gap remains between coaches of men's and women's teams. In a national ranking of institutions by salary averages, men's coaches at the median institution made 43% more than women's coaches. Some institutions provide more salary equity than others. The Justice Department is investigating sex discrimination. (MSE)

Incidents of point-shaving and placing and accepting bets are evidence that professional gamblers are influencing college sports and campus life. Because of student athletes' competitive nature, they may be more likely to engage in gambling. The National Collegiate Athletic Association and individual colleges are examining and addressing this long-standing problem with clearer policies and workshops. (MSE)

A new study shows the percentage of black coaches of big-time basketball and football teams lags far behind both the percentage of black athletes on those teams and the percentage of head coaches in professional leagues for those sports. Some feel racial attitudes, a strong old-boy network, and black coaches' low profiles are barriers to hiring black coaches. (MSE)

The high percentage of female undergraduate students at predominantly black colleges and universities makes it difficult for many Division I institutions to meet the male/female proportionality standards for athletics programs. Concentration of African-American athletes in just a few sports is also a factor. Some institutions are dropping sports with high proportions of African-American athletes to meet requirements. (MSE)

The proportion of women in top collegiate sports programs, 38%, and women's share of athletics budgets increased slightly in 1996-1997. Men still received almost twice as much money as women for operating expenses, recruiting, and athletically related financial aid. Advocates for women's athletics find the gains too small. College football advocates feel their financial success has increased opportunities for women. (MSE)

A National Collegiate Athletic Association study has found that the average athlete on a top college football or men's basketball team enters college in the bottom quarter of his class. Critics say the pursuit of success in athletics is corrupting higher education. Some attribute this pattern to racial bias in testing that skews athletes' test scores. (MSE)

The Supreme Court will not hear the Brown University (Rhode Island) appeal in "Brown vs. Cohen," letting stand rulings that the university had violated Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments by cutting financial support for women's volleyball and gymnastics teams. Advocates for women's athletics see the court's refusal to intervene as decisive. (MSE)

The National Women's Law Center alleges that 25 colleges and universities are violating federal anti-discrimination law (Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972) by giving female athletes a disproportionately small amount of sports-related financial aid. In 1995-96, 27 institutions achieved "substantial proportionality" in financial aid. Two separate tests are used to determine scholarship parity. (MSE)

A recent study found universities pay substantially higher salaries, sometimes twice as high, to head coaches of men's athletic teams than to head coaches of women's teams. Findings raise questions about how coaches' salaries are set. Some see sex discrimination; others view salary differences as reflecting degree of coach responsibility. Most female coaches head women's teams. (MSE)

William Dowling, an English professor at Rutgers University, has been organizing a campaign to eliminate the university from the Big East Conference and reduce its spending on athletics and scholarships. Dowling and a group of alumni, faculty members, and students hope the university will reconsider its commitment to maintaining a major athletic program.

American University Athletic Director Lee McElroy is often confused for a coach because he is African American. Only 2.8% of athletic directors in non-historically black institutions are African American. The low numbers seem to reflect America's opinion of African Americans as leaders and managers. The number of black athletes is much greater than that of athletic administrators.

Commercialization of college athletics could make the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) vulnerable to antitrust laws. A contributing factor to vulnerability is the regulation that limits the number of coaches a team can employ. The NCAA's limit on games played in a season violates the Sherman Act because it restricts production, but the NCAA may argue limiting the duration of sports seasons is necessary to academic success of its athletes.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association had decided to lower academic standards for athletes with learning disabilities. The US Department of Justice and the NCAA agreed to certify high school special-education courses toward its initial-eligibility requirements. Such courses were previously viewed as remedial and could not be counted toward high school core classes.

Deborah L. Blake, senior counsel to the National Women's Law Center, predicted the U.S. Supreme Court would not review the US Department of Education's interpretation of the federal law for women's college sports expansion. The Court refused to hear an appeal of a Brown University sex-discrimination lawsuit, thereby weakening the effect of Title IX.

Salaries for head coaches in men's and women's college sports are rising. However, a large gap exists between men coaches and women coaches. Men's head coaches' average salary was found to be $54,800, while women's head coaches averaged about $39,400. Each of these figures was approximately 25% higher than the figures in 1995-96.

Officials of the National Collegiate Athletic Association have been working with the FBI to encourage college athletes to avoid gambling on college sporting events. Federal indictments for point-shaving have been made against players at Northwestern, Columbia, and other universities. One in four college athletes have, according to a recent survey, have bet on games through a bookmaker and nearly 4% have bet on games in which they played.

The proportion of women in collegiate sports rose during the 1996-97 academic year. Women constituted 38% of the athletes at Division I institutions in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), resulting in an increase of one percentage point. However, men's programs received twice as much money as did women's programs, but women's sports programs and budget grew at a faster rate.

The 32 men's basketball teams of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Division II gather in Nampa, Idaho, with less hype and more charm than their glitzy counterparts in Division I of the NCAA. Each March the teams meet in Nampa, population 30,000, to play eight games per day for three days until the teams are reduced to eight. The crowds are made up of parents, college administrators, school children and retirees. Bethel College of Mishawaka, Indiana defended its title and was crowned 1998 champions.

Predominantly black colleges have trouble meeting the requirements of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 stating the percentage of female undergraduates should be proportionate to the percentage of female athletes. The difficulties stem from the high percentage of women students in these institutions, and college officials are trying to remedy the situation by promoting women's sports.

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, in a speech at the NCAA's annual convention in Jan 1998, called for NCAA Division I schools to restrict alcoholic beverage advertising both at sporting events and during broadcasts of their games. She believes such action is warranted because of recent alcohol-related deaths and research findings that alcohol advertising may foster adolescent drinking. Some conference officials called Shalala's proposal unrealistic, given the beer industry's heavy sponsorship of sports broadcasting, and the nature of collegiate broadcasting contracts.

University athletic departments are refusing to sign advertising contracts with alcoholic-beverage companies. A growing number of school administrators are citing the number of substance-abuse related accidents as reasons why they have reconsidered advertising in campus arenas and during game broadcasts. School officials also claim it is inappropriate for private institutions to accept this type of advertising in light of the growing number of substance-abuse problems campuses are experiencing.

College athletics programs in the NCAA's Division III, such as those offered by members of the North Coast Conference, are highly successful at integrating their athletes into the academic and social spheres of their institutions. They also reflect higher rates of gender equity and student body participation than programs in the NCAA's more prestigious Division I. Division III programs are almost totally free of the recruiting and criminal scandals that frequently plague Division I programs and athletes. Athletics programs in Division III also all lose money, but so do many of those in Division I.

The US EEOC issued new non-binding guidelines on pay equity for the coaches of men's and women's college sports teams in Oct 1997. The EEOC stated that the great disparity in pay scale between men's and women's coaches may constitute sexual discrimination, because the vast majority of women coaches coach women's teams. The high salaries paid to men's football and men's basketball coaches largely determine the disparity. The guidelines will probably impact the base salaries of basketball coaches the most, because the men's and women's coaching jobs are too similar to justify the large pay disparity.

The University of Michigan's athletics director Joe Roberson resigned his post in Aug 1997. Stress from attempting to balance competing constituencies was a major reason for his departure. Named to his post in 1993, Roberson, known as an educator, represented a shift from the tradition of naming coaches or corporate executives to head university athletics departments. His tenure was mostly spent in crisis management, as his department was subjected to a series of scandals. An NCAA investigation of retired auto worker Ed Martin's relationship with the university's basketball program is still ongoing.

Members of the NCAA's Division I-AA (I-AA) for college football are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with larger Division I-A (I-A) schools for revenues, fans and athletes. I-A football revenues were between $300 million and $400 million for 1995-96, but these funds were not shared with other Division I teams. Nearly all I-AA football teams lose money. Lack of football revenues also limits their ability to compete with I-A in other sports. Many of the strongest I-AA teams have jumped to I-A for reasons of prestige. The remaining I-AA teams hope to convince those in I-A to share their revenues.

The commissioners of the four college football conferences that make up the Bowl Alliance, headed by Roy F. Kramer, have reduced the chances of a postseason NCAA championship tournament for college football by enticing the Big 10 and Pacific-10 conferences to join the alliance. The alliance's efforts to satisfy both the television networks and college football fans by organizing a season ending game between the nation's top two teams has been successful enough to delay plans for a formal postseason tournament. Some believe that the commissioners sabotaged playoff plans to protect their own influence.

The US Dept of Education (DED) is conducting a nationwide probe of the fraudulent disbursement of federal student aid funds to college athletes. The investigation is partially based on information gained from the case of Anthony A. Russell, a former adviser to athletes at the University of Miami, who was convicted of fraud related to the administration of Pell Grants in 1994. DED investigators examined records at Mississippi State University from Aug 12, 1997 through Aug 22, 1997. DED officials, however, have released no additional information on the probe and refuse to say who is being investigated.

Members of top-rated college football and basketball teams usually rank in the bottom 25% of their institution's first-year students upon admission. This conclusion is drawn from 1996-1997 data that compares the college entrance test scores and high school grade-point-averages of athletes on football and basketball teams that finished in the top 25 with those of their first year colleagues at the same institution. Critics of preferential admissions standards for athletes claim that the data reflects institutions' degradation of higher education standards for the sake of athletic success.

The National Women's Law Center's sex discrimination cases against 25 NCAA Division I-A and Division I-AA institutions that were filed in Jun 1997 raise the issue of whether compliance with the Education Amendments of 1972 is possible for these schools, given the NCAA's present scholarship limits. Many college sports analysts are skeptical that schools in the top two NCAA divisions can follow the law's provisions while offering the maximum number of football scholarships the NCAA allows. Some believe that scholarships in football should be limited. Others say women's scholarships should be added.

The National Women's Law Center charges that female athletes have been getting sports-related financial aid in disproportionately small amounts, constituting a violation of the federal anti-discrimination law. Information released under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act reveals that female college athletes received at least 5 % less sports-related aid than men during the 1995-96 academic year. Marcia D Greenberger, co-pres of the center, charges that these differences violate Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

The US Supreme Court has refused to hear the sex discrimination case of Brown v. Cohen, which involves Brown University's 1991 withdrawal of funding from its women's gymnastics and volleyball teams. The women athletes sued Brown and six lower federal courts unanimously found that Brown violated the anti-discrimination standards set forth in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Brown argued that the standards are confusing and themselves discriminatory. The athletes and their supporters claim that the Court's rejection of Brown's appeal is a major victory for gender equity in college athletics.

All parties to the debate over gender equity in college athletics programs await the Supreme Court's decision whether to hear the case of Brown v. Cohen during the spring of 1997. The case and related controversy revolve around the US Dept of Education's interpretation of compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Opponents of Title IX believe the law, as interpreted, discriminates against men by using a standard that states the number of women athletes must be proportional to the number of women undergraduates, instead of to the number of women undergraduates interested in competing.

A survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education shows that while 37% of participants in college sports programs are women, women's sports receives less money than programs for men. Title IX, one of the federal amendments to education passed in 1972, provided for increased women's participation in college sports, yet only 9% of Division I members have reached the federal mandate of proportionality.

DeLoss Dodds, men's athletics director at the University of Texas, recently issued his 10th annual report surveying the salaries of athletics department personnel at 87 universities in the NCAA's Division 1-A. Men's basketball coaches top the list, earning a median compensation of $290,000 during 1996/97. Median compensation for football coaches is $268,000. The median personnel expenditure for men's athletics programs is $1.9 million, while that for women's is $431,282, only 22% of the men's figure. Personnel in a characteristic Division 1-A athletics department probably earn more than $3.24 million.

Men's college hockey suffers from a puzzling lack of popularity, mostly due to a dearth of television coverage in the eastern US. Lack of a unified marketing strategy also impedes the sport's progress. Its many virtues include speed, finesse, the intimacy of its venues, and less violence than in professional hockey. It also remains largely free of the scandals that have rocked men's college basketball and football because it traditionally recruits athletes devoted to academics. Its audience, which includes a large number of the highly educated and affluent, is demographically attractive to advertisers.

Many colleges that are expanding women's athletics programs are using funds freed by cutting men's teams. To comply with Title IX, universities must offer teams and expand programs that reflect the interest underrepresented by gender, as well as have the same approximate proportion of women-to-men varsity athletes as undergraduates. Football and men's basketball fund most college athletics, but wrestling, gymnastics, lacrosse and fencing programs consistently lose money. These are the teams most often cut when creating opportunities for women.

Oregon State University (OSU) led all NCAA schools with Division I-A football teams by graduating 95% of its athletes during the last six years. Athletic director Dutch Baughman and the coaches he hires are committed to maintaining that achievement. They would, however, like to win a few more games. OSU's football team has not had a winning season for 26 years and its men's basketball team won only four games last season. OSU is attempting to recruit more talented athletes, even some who are academically questionable. The school is relying on its student athlete support system to improve their grades.

The NCAA held its final annual legislative convention in Nashville, TN during Jan 1996. The NCAA adopted a structural reorganization plan that gives each of its three divisions greater autonomy and abolishes the annual organization-wide legislative meeting. Other changes approved at the convention include allowing student athletes to hold jobs during the academic year, awarding a fourth year of eligibility to degree-earning athletes barred from first-year competition for academic reasons, and protecting programs in Olympic sports even at schools where few athletes participate.

The Patriot League, an athletic conference made up of schools such as Holy Cross, Bucknell, Colgate, and the Naval and Military Academies, has decided to offer basketball scholarships. The League's institutions have for many years refused to allow athletic scholarships, but Holy Cross demanded that it allow basketball scholarships in order for it to compete with other Catholic colleges. Administrators at the other schools went along with holy Cross for practical reasons, although many are unhappy about it.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association will be deciding upon its decentralization plans at its final meeting in january 1997. The NCAA will be giving Division I-A schools and athletic departments much more say in running operations, and will be granting individual athletic conferences greater power as a result. A number of proposals to clarify certain items up for discussion will likely be defeated since the NCAA considers them unwanted by their corporate sponsors and partners.