One windmill down, one to go

0 Comments | Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), May, 2003

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

On a fall day in 1999, Jim Earl was sitting at the breakfast table when he picked up his newspaper and saw something that convinced him college sports had to change. Last month he was at a conference table in Chicago helping do just that.

The April summit brought Earl, an English professor at the University of Oregon, and nine other faculty members from around the country face to face with university trustees and the president of the NCAA.

The question on the table was whether these three factions could find enough common ground to join forces and work toward the kind of reforms Earl and others have been pushing for several years.

Among them are improved grades and graduation rates for student athletes...