More OSU players in remedial classes

The number of overall students in remedial classes fell.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Ohio State University football players are seven times as likely to have taken remedial classes as average students at the university's main campus, according to school records analyzed by The Columbus Dispatch for a story on Friday.
Records show that the percentage of football players in remedial classes ranged from 6 percent to 25 percent and averaged 16 percent from 1998 to 2004, the newspaper reported. The percentage of other students at the main campus enrolled in remedial classes ranged from 1 percent to 4 percent over that period and averaged 2 percent.
Overall, the number of students in remedial classes fell from 1998 to 2003 as the university toughened its academic standards for incoming students. The number of football players in those classes fluctuated without following a particular trend.
What classes players take has become an issue after former Buckeyes running back Maurice Clarett has charged that he and other players received preferential treatment.
Placement tests
Provost Barbara Snyder said students are put in remedial classes, offered for math and English, based on placement tests.
She said she did not know why a larger percentage of football players were in remedial classes compared with all students. Like they do in other areas such as music or theater, admission officials consider special talents when deciding whether to admit a student.
"If you singled out another group, you might be able to find higher or lower numbers in remedial classes," she said.
The NCAA has started an investigation over Clarett's accusations in an ESPN The Magazine article claiming that university boosters gave him money, coach Jim Tressel helped him get loaner cars and that Tressel's brother, Dick, arranged summer jobs that required little work. He has also said tutors did classwork for him and that he received passing grades even though he rarely went to class.
An eight-week university investigation following previous allegations by Clarett found no wrongdoing, and Ohio State spokeswoman Elizabeth Conlisk said the university is not doing its own investigation this time.
Outsider's view
David Ridpath, former compliance director at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., said academic perks for college athletes is a problem.
"These things go on, they go on every day, and not just at OSU," he said. "I've been on the inside, and I know how corrupt it is. Our interest isn't in graduating and educating these college athletes.
"We're bringing these people in to run the ball, to score touchdowns and to win games. We do not care if Maurice Clarett graduates."
But Snyder disagreed and said Ohio State is not preparing students for careers as football players.
"We are preparing all of our students for life after graduation," either for a job or a professional program, she said.