Athletics

The college sports group is "reviled and legally besieged," but after 30 years of tilting at its windmills, Murray Sperber believes it is legally and politically invulnerable.

One-fifth of the information obtained by the association in its investigation of the University of Miami will be tossed -- as will several employees -- because staff and managers acted inappropriately, an external review found.

A decade of policies aimed at holding colleges accountable for athletes' academic performance has actually undermined the integrity of higher education, Gerald Gurney and Richard Southall argue.

After discovering its staff essentially paid for subpoena power in its inquiry at the U. of Miami, the association orders an external review of its enforcement division.

The NCAA's new academic standards for athletic eligibility haven't taken effect yet, but the first students they'll apply to are already in high school -- and colleges that aren't spreading the word are dropping the ball, officials argue.

In deregulating the NCAA rulebook, Division I embraces colleges' "natural advantages," giving athletic programs more freedom to deploy staff and spend money however they see fit. Among the key changes is greater recruiting flexibility.

Division III sports programs should oppose a medically unsubstantiated NCAA proposal to test athletes for the health trait, Mark Peluso and Paul Berkner write.