NCAA SETTLEMENT WITH THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

 

FACT SHEET

 

Under the landmark agreement, the NCAA has agreed to:

• certify classes designed for students with learning disabilities as "core courses" if the classes provide them with the same type of knowledge and skills as other college-bound students--increasing by ten fold the number of certified classes for students with learning disabilities;
  
• enable college freshmen with learning disabilities, who do not meet the initial-eligibility rules, to earn a fourth year of athletic eligibility if they show they can succeed academically, while also playing sports;
  
• direct its evaluating committees to review the students' high school preparation and performance when deciding whether to grant a waiver, and include experts in learning disabilities when evaluating a student's application;
  
• designate an "ADA Compliance Coordinator," to assist NCAA staff and to serve as a liaison with students; train its staff on the new policies; and publicize the agreement to students, parents, and member colleges and universities; and,
  
• Pay a total of $35,000 in damages to four student-athletes.

 

Several students complained that:

The NCAA often would not certify, as "core courses," classes that students with learning disabilities were required to take as a part of their federally-mandated "Individualized Education Program." For instance, the NCAA:

• refused to certify an English course of one student because the class was labeled "Special Academic Offering English." The student was declared ineligible for athletics in his first year of college.
  
• declared a student, who finished in the top 10% of his class, ineligible for sports, after it rejected 8 classes labeled "REM" (remedial), even though the school submitted substantial information about the substance of the classes.
  
• forced a student to withdraw from college because it rejected six classes designed for students with learning disabilities, including "Individual English 11" and "Individual Social Studies 12."

The NCAA has a "waiver process" that allows students to apply for an exception to the rules. However, the waiver decisions are made after students are enrolled in a college. By then, allegedly, the student's first choice for college has stopped recruiting them and they have to settle for a less desirable school.

Return to NCAA Consent Decree

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May 27, 1998