Court Rejects Test Scores as NCAA Eligibility Criteria

By Mark Walsh

A federal judge last week invalidated the admissions-test portion of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's freshman-eligibility standards, based on evidence that the requirement has a disparate impact on black student athletes.

The March 8 ruling by U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter of Philadelphia was welcomed by many college coaches and educators who have viewed the test-score requirement as unfair to many student athletes.

But the decision raised fears among others that colleges would begin setting their own eligibility standards and return to past abuses in which students ill-prepared for higher education were admitted only because...