Monro Doubts NCAA, Ivy Can Resolve Disagreement Over 1.6 Eligibility Rule

There appears to be no way of reconciling the NCAA and the Ivy League in the battle over the 1.6 eligibility rule, according to Dean Monro.

Monro presented some recommendations of the Ivy League presidents to the NCAA Council meeting in San Francisco last week. He said the experience showed him that the conflict is a "head-on collision" between two different philosophies of education.

The 1.6 legislation, Monro said, is "an attempt to establish minimum respectable academic standards for athletic participation. The NCAA is dealing with many colleges that have no standards at all."

Because of this "tough problem," Monro thinks the NCAA will have to keep the 1.6 legislation. He emphasized that the NCAA is "not trying to push us out." But he does not see how the Ivy League can comply.

Library Best Place

"The NCAA Council believes that the best place for a student with a grade average under 1.6 is in the library," Monro said. "I say, how do you know? Perhaps a sport is the one familiar thing which can help his adjustment to a strange environment."

But according to the blanket NCAA ruling, any student with less than a 1.6 grade index (less than three C's and a D at Harvard) is automatically ineligible for aid or varsity participation. Any new student with a predicted grade index under 1.6 is ineligible for aid for his freshman year.

Faculty Decision

When a Harvard student falls below three C's and a D, or has a record including any two D's or one E, he is automatically subject either to warning or probation, depending on a decision by the Faculty. A student on warning may participate in varsity sports; a student on probation may not. The NCAA ruling would take this decision out of the hands of the University.