NCAA Reprieves ivy League On Eligibility Rule

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has granted the members of the Ivy League and over 50 other schools a second stay of the deadline for compliance with its "1.600 rule" on eligibility.

The stay postpones a possible disqualification of the Ivy-led group from the up-coming NCAA championship tournaments. The NCAA had originally announced that any member-school which had not certified its compliance with the 1.600 rule by Feb. 15 would be ineligible for NCAA competition.

More than 100 other schools did not receive extensions and are therefore barred from the championships--at least for this year. They, unlike the 50 reprieved schools, had not even notified the NCAA by mail of their refusal to comply.

The Ivies, and most of the other schools, have argued that the 1.600 rule, which sets minimum academic standards for athletes, robs them of the institutional autonomy over academic matters which is academic matters which is granted them in the NCAA constitution.

The reason for the extension was ostensibly to allow the Ivy schools to say whether they will file certificates of compliance. But the eight Ivy League presidents have already said that they will not. In separate letters mailed Feb. 8, they explained their reasons and the eligibility requirements of their individual schools, which in almost all cases are above the NCAA standard.

"If the NCAA is hoping we'll change our mind, it's wrong," said one Ivy League official. "Our stand is crystal clear. There's no chance on earth that we'll change. The question is: Will the NCAA change?"

The showdown between the Ivy League and the NCAA cannot be avoided after March 5, when the NCAA basketball championships are scheduled to begin, although the skiing championships begin on the 3rd.