HOW SHE SEES IT Athletes failing in class is real March madness

By LINDA CAMPBELL
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Does anybody doubt the high-octane entertainment value of watching Dayton and DePaul duel into double overtime? The unique amusement of watching the two Alabamas -- Tuscaloosa and Birmingham -- upend season-long stalwarts Stanford and Kentucky?
Does anybody really expect basketball players sweating to a spot in the Sweet 16 to have much mental energy left for their final month or so of college classes?
In light of the obvious conflicts created by March Madness, it's distressing but hardly surprising to hear that only four of the schools that made it to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA dance have graduated more than half their male basketball players.
Those are Kansas, at 73 percent; Duke and Xavier, both 67 percent; and Vanderbilt, 62, according to a report by Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.
The University of Connecticut and Georgia Tech both had graduation rates of 27 percent, and the University of Texas came in at 38 percent.
Graduation mark
A separate set of statistics, from the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, shows that 44 of the 65 schools that made it to the hoops hoopla reached the 50 percent graduation mark.
Of course, the top three -- Stanford, at 100 percent, Lehigh, 90 percent, and Dayton, 82 percent -- took their players back to class early, though not voluntarily.
Shining a spotlight on the ugly truth about academic expectations might not generate as much water-cooler debate on who can win it all this weekend. But it should.
And the dismal rates ought to embarrass more administrators into serious soul-searching about their lack of focus on their core mission.
There's no denying that a big performance in the NCAA tournament is a huge boost in prestige and press coverage -- not to mention campus morale and the all-important moolah. By some reports, each round in the tourney can rake in $750,000 per school.
That may be what influential alumni are after. But what about taxpayers who underwrite the scholarships at state schools and the families footing steep tuition at public and private universities? Are they investing in education or in entertainment?
The NCAA, which governs major college athletics, is expected to adopt a plan next month that would push universities to focus more on getting their athletes diplomas.
Schools that don't meet graduation targets would be notified of noncompliance, then would lose scholarships and eventually would be barred from postseason competition.
Some critics are worried that the threat of penalties would push schools to put more athletes in easy classes, fake their work or pressure teachers to give unwarranted passing grades. But that kind of unethical behavior already exists. Setting higher expectations won't break moral compasses that aren't already damaged.
The coaches who are willing to admit players who are barely literate, to have papers ghostwritten for some athletes or to give tests that ask how many halves are in a college basketball game will always be prone to gaming the system.
Universities have to police against academic fraud by athletes just as they do for students who aren't athletes. Do we tolerate plagiarism? Do we reward faked science? Why should coaches be allowed to give a handful of their own players bogus class credit?
Basketball players
According to a Washington Post report, schools overall do even worse by basketball players than by football players: 44 percent of men's basketball players graduate, compared with 54 percent of football players and 62 percent of all student-athletes.
This is particularly troubling considering that the top basketball teams are likely to be more heavily populated with African-American players than with whites.
In 1966, when Texas Western College won the NCAA crown, starting an all-black lineup to Kentucky's all-white five, it was a breakthrough. But progress on the court isn't enough without progress in the classroom and on the graduation stage.
It's a sham and a scandal when glamour-sport athletes are treated preferentially or like commodities, used for their talents, led to believe that they have a ticket to somewhere and then left without the skills that a college education is supposed to provide.
College is, fundamentally, about education, not entertainment.
Sports definitely can enhance the educational experience, both for those who participate and for those who sit in the stands. But playing time doesn't prepare you for life in the real world.
X Linda P. Campbell is a columnist and editorial writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.