In articles published July 31 in USA Today and the Chronicle of Higher Education, Knight Commission Executive Director Amy Perko called on the NCAA to take action to protect college athletes from being exploited by a fantasy league using their names without permission and for commercial purposes. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Perko…
Echoing many of the prior recommendations made by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, New America Foundation’s Higher Ed Watch blogger Lindsey Luebchow called for the NCAA, and possibly Congress, to provide more transparency and more detailed information about athletic spending. Since the Knight Commission reconvened in 2003, it has consistently called for improvements to…
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that nearly half of NCAA Division I athletics departments doubled their recruiting budgets from 1997 to 2001. Additionally, “the 65 biggest spenders shelled out a total of more than $61 million in 2007, an 86-percent increase from 10 years before.” The Chronicle’s analysis is based on financial data reported…
LINK HERE for PDF of the letter
Inside Higher Ed published a point of view by Todd Diacon, Faculty Athletics Representative at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, in which he discussed the relationship between individual institutional academic policies and the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate (APR). While Diacon notes that the APR provides a useful opportunity for institutions to examine how their…
In a series of articles by the USA Today, the paper examines NCAA’s academic-related penalties to 200 sport teams at 123 Division I schools as well as the waivers given. By comparing the penalties applied across the leagues, the report highlights a difference between the academic performance of teams in higher profile conferences as compared…
Former Wake Forest basketball star was a three-time Academic All-America honoree (June 25, 2008)—–Amy (Privette) Perko, executive director of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, has been selected for induction into the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame. Perko, who will enter the Hall as part of the 21st class, will be inducted with four…
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The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics held discussions on academic reform, potential changes in the basketball playing season, and changes to penalties for violating National Collegiate Athletic Association rules. The Commission called on the NCAA to shorten the season to reduce the number of missed classes and stress on players. It also commended the association’s academic performance program, but noted that a complex waiver process is threatening to weaken standards designed to hold programs responsible for the academic progress of their players.
The Higher Ed Watch Blog recently evaluated the NCAA’s report on college spending on athletics and noted several limitations. According to the blog, the report’s usefulness is limited because it discloses only aggregate numbers and does not disclose individual institutional expenses. The issue is complicated by different accounting practices at each institution. Yet, this report…