Scrutiny for Florida State Over Athletes With Learning Disabilities

Florida State University has used the diagnoses of learning disabilities to recruit and assist many athletes, including some who may have had little chance of academic success and lacked basic reading skills, according to an ESPN broadcast on Sunday. The show suggested that some athletes are being admitted despite long odds against academic success, and that the diagnosis of learning disabilities is being used to provide substantial assistance to athletes and to get around some NCAA rules, which allow for waivers for some with learning disabilities. The show quoted one source as saying that a third of the football team and three-quarters of the basketball team at Florida State had diagnoses of learning disabilities. Even before the broadcast aired, Florida State was denouncing it.