NCAA can still use SAT scores

The Associated Press A federal appeals court yesterday temporarily restored an NCAA regulation allowing Division I schools to use minimum test scores as a factor in determining freshman eligibility for athletes. In issuing the stay requested by the NCAA, a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to put on hold a lower-court ruling that struck down Proposition 16, the NCAA bylaw that dictated freshman eligibility requirements. U.S. District Judge Ronald Buckwalter ruled on March 8 that Proposition 16 had an ''unjustified disparate impact on African Americans.'' The ruling yesterday put the requirements back in place, at least temporarily, but does not overturn Buckwalter's original ruling. The NCAA said it needed a stay to gain more time to write replacement eligibility rules and file appeals. NCAA attorney David Bruton argued in court yesterday that there was ''considerable confusion'' among the NCAA's 302 Division I schools, which the ruling affects. ''There has been no alternative proposed that would achieve the level of success'' that Proposition 16 had achieved in setting academic requirements, Bruton said. Spanier said the NCAA board would convene by conference call by the end of the week to decide how to proceed. Attorneys for the four black athletes who filed the suit said the NCAA should adopt a nondiscriminatory eligibility policy rather than fight to delay or overturn the court's decision. ''The NCAA knows this is a bad rule. One would hope they use the time they say they need'' to develop new rules, said Andre Dennis, lead attorney for the plaintiffs. ''My concern is that they will become complacent and allow the discriminatory effect to continue.'' ''At best, this is an administrative inconvenience,'' Dennis said yesterday in chiding the NCAA's arguments. Buckwalter declined to give the NCAA the extra time but the appeals court granted the stay pending the NCAA's appeal. The initial ruling did not completely rule out some use of the tests, which many educators have said are racially discriminatory.