The court ruling striking down the National Collegiate Athletic Association's minimum admission standards has drawn support from one local college president, though another feared it could send the wrong message to high school students.

"I agree with the ruling 100 percent," said Calvin W. Burnett, president of Coppin State College. "I've always thought this was an inappropriate way to deal with this problem. I'm not saying it's not a problem, but those tests were being used in a way that is just not valid."

A federal judge in Philadelphia ruled March 8 that NCAA rules that require a minimum score of 820 on the SAT for incoming athletes to play as freshmen -- known as Proposition 16 -- violated civil rights laws because they have "an unjustified disparate impact against African-Americans."

The NCAA has requested a stay to give it time to write replacement eligibility rules and to file appeals. Arguments are scheduled to take place today on that request.

The suit was filed by four black athletes who said they were denied NCAA scholarships or sports eligibility because they didn't meet the minimum test score.

"I fully support them," said Burnett, who added that schools in poorer areas -- black and white -- often lack the courses that students need to do well on the SATs.

"We can get those students in here, give them the proper remedial work, they start working hard and in four or five years they get their degree, doing very well," he said. "I think if those students had not been admitted in the first place, the community loses.

"And that's another way this rule is discriminatory; it only applies to athletes. Others don't have to meet these standards," he said.

But Freeman A. Hrabowski III, president of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, voiced his concern.

"We have to find a way to energize students to score at a higher level on the SATs," he said. "You don't do these people a favor if you don't push them to do better."

He noted that one high school basketball player currently on the school's waiting list took three tries to get her NCAA qualifying score of 830.

"We have been helping that young woman for the last year, working with her to try to get her to do better," Hrabowski said. "If by eliminating these standards, you are sending a message that these tests are not important, that's wrong."

Linda M. Clement, director of the office of undergraduate admissions at the University of Maryland College Park, said she understood the rationale behind the ruling but said it would have no effect on her campus.

"The problem is in using the SAT score as a cutoff," she said. "That's not what the SAT was designed for. It is only one indicator used in the admissions process."

At Maryland, virtually all students have much higher SAT scores. "We have never used the NCAA criteria as an admission standard," said Clement.

She met with the school's coaches on the same day the court decision was announced. "The coaches knew that we would not drop our floor, that we admit students we think can do well here," she said. "What they were concerned about is if other schools will use this to lower their standards and put them at a competitive disadvantage. That's an interesting question."

Hrabowski, too, said there are problems with any arbitrary limit on the SAT. "The test by itself can't tell you how a student is going to do, except maybe in some science and engineering areas.

"If a student can read well and is really motivated and has good study skills, then they can succeed," he said.

But he said he feared throwing out the NCAA criteria entirely and leaving the decision up to individual schools.

"Without some minimum standards set, I fear we will go back to what we had in previous years, when people who lacked the basic skills were being admitted," he said. "My intent is to set high standards for students."

Hrabowski said most of the so-called "individual admits" at UMBC -- those whose scores don't meet the school's standards -- have SATs in the 900 to 1,000 range.

"Some of these have artistic talents, some are athletes, some are people who have English as a second language," he said. "We look very carefully at the rigor of their high school programs, the motivation of the student and the major they plan. The bottom line question is: Can they succeed on this campus?"

Clement said anyone admitted to UMCP with SATs under 900 would be considered "at-risk."

"I'm sure we've admitted students with SATs below 820, but it is certainly not typical, and it would only be done with support programs in place to help that student be successful," she said, adding that she knew of no athletes currently at the school who were denied freshmen eligibility for failing to meet the NCAA standards.

Burnett had his own solution to what he recognizes is a problem -- reinstate the rule making freshmen ineligible for varsity sports.

"I played some basketball myself back around the time they invented dirt," the 66-year-old Burnett said of his undergraduate years at Saint Louis University. "I know how demanding a Division I athletics program can be. You're putting that on students who are just trying to adjust to college.

"Instead, let us admit the students and if they make satisfactory progress in their freshman year, then they can play as sophomores," he said. "And that gets the NCAA out of our admissions office where they shouldn't be in the first place."

Clement said she agreed that making freshmen ineligible would solve many problems. "That's an idea you hear now and then, but it doesn't get much support," she said.

Pub Date: 3/15/99