Political Quotes

“This editorial raises the following question: [C]an you guess how many schools would be playing [in the NCAA men's tournament] if there was a requirement that they had to graduate at least half of their athletes [in a 6-year period of time]? If you guessed a third, you'd be right. This article goes on to note that some universities involved in this tournament have exemplary records combining athletics and scholarship; and he names Kansas, with 73 percent of its players graduating within 6 years of their original enrollment; Dayton, 82 percent; Lehigh, 90 percent; and atop the chart--which is a university which lost yesterday--Stanford, with 100 percent. This editorial says: Three years ago, the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics proposed that postseason competition be limited to teams that graduate at least 50 percent of their players [within 6 years]. But the NCAA obviously has a long way to go. Of the 65 teams playing [in the tournament] this year, only 21 would qualify under that rule--down from 22 last year. For that matter, 10 of the teams [in the NCAA tournament] fail to graduate even 20 percent of their players. This is what commission Chairman William Friday, president emeritus of the University of North Carolina, noted: [F]our of the teams in the men's tournament failed to graduate a single athlete over the period we reviewed.”