NCAA reforms the right move

On Oct. 22, the NCAA Division I Management Council made "sweeping" changes to student-athlete academic standards by passing a proposal that will put more emphasis on the classroom rather than the playing field. And just think, the Myles Brand era doesn't begin until Jan. 1. The new standards eliminate the "cut" score on the standardized test requirements, such as the SAT and ACT, and places more importance on high school GPA and the number of credits taken during an athlete's collegiate career. If the NCAA Board of Directors truly works for the student-athlete, they will pass this proposal in its Thursday meeting.\nThese new requirements will place the weight on whether the student-athlete can apply his or her knowledge in the classroom rather than on a scantron bubblesheet. The new proposal dismisses the required 820 SAT score for eligibility so the student-athlete can rely on his or her classroom work and not on a test score that cannot judge the true intelligence of a person. There are those who might say a high school GPA is as worthless as a standardized test because everyone can get an "A" in underwater basket weaving, but this is not the case with these requirements. Not only do the requirements focus on the core classes -- English, math, science, etc. -- but it raises the number of those classes from 13 to 14. \nAlong with the eligibility reform comes college graduation reform. This new proposal would require a certain amount of credit hours to be completed by the student-athlete each semester to be eligible for the current year. According to the proposal, the student-athlete must complete 24 semester hours of academic credit -- not of the underwater basket weaving type -- before they enter their second year of collegiate enrollment, 18 semester hours per academic year and six hours per term. The proposal also requires the student-athlete to have 90 percent of the minimum GPA necessary to graduate by his or her second year, 95 percent by the third and 100 percent by their fourth year of eligibility. \nThe continuous requirement scale will follow the student-athlete along his or her collegiate career. There will no longer be student-athletes who complete their eligibility without a degree. Now if the athlete's respective professional sports organization passes on offering him or her a contract, they might fall back on something that won't diminish with age -- a college degree. \nWhile some might say these new requirements seem tough, they're a step in the right direction to ensure the student-athlete graduation rate increases from the dismal level it's at now. The NCAA needs to focus on the de-commercialization of its athletes and place more emphasis on the classroom. With the hiring of a university president rather than an athletic director for its next leader, they are heading in that direction. This new proposal is another step down that same path. The NCAA Board of Directors needs to head this direction by ratifying the academic reform proposal Oct. 31.\n--Ryan Gunterman for the Editorial Board