For Immediate Release: Thursday, October 9, 1997
For More Information Contact: TLPJ, 202-797-8600
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TLPJ Defeats NCAA's Motion to Dismiss Race Discrimination Suit Challenging Freshman Eligibility Rules

Court Permits African-American Student-Athletes' Discrimination Claims to Proceed to Trial

The national race discrimination class action filed by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ) against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) over its freshman eligibility rules will be going to trial. United States District Court Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter denied the NCAA's motion to dismiss today, holding that TLPJ could proceed to trial with its claim that the NCAA's minimum test score requirement unjustifiably discriminates against African-Americans. In so doing, Judge Buckwalter rejected the NCAA's arguments that (1) no private lawsuit can be brought to challenge actions with a racially disparate impact under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its implementing regulations; and (2) the NCAA is not a "program or activity" covered by Title VI, which prohibits race discrimination by programs or activities that receive federal funds.

"This is an important victory for student-athletes nationwide," said TLPJ lead counsel Andre' Dennis of Philadelphia's Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young, LLP. "The court's ruling means that the NCAA will have to defend its rules on their merits rather than claim that it is exempt from federal civil rights laws."

The NCAA, which governs intercollegiate athletics, requires all potential student-athletes at major schools to achieve a minimum score on the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) or the American College Test (ACT) -- regardless of their academic records or scholastic achievements. TLPJ filed Cureton v. NCAA in January 1997 on behalf of two Philadelphia student-athletes who graduated in the top of their high school class. Both were originally recruited for track by numerous Division I schools. Despite their academic success, however, the recruiting abruptly changed -- and they were barred from competing as freshmen at Division I schools -- when they did not achieve the minimum SAT score. The lawsuit seeks an injunction prohibiting the NCAA from enforcing the minimum test score requirement and allowing all affected student-athletes to regain their lost year of athletic eligibility.

"We have said all along that the NCAA's minimum test score requirement constitutes blatantly illegal race discrimination," said TLPJ Staff Attorney Adele Kimmel, co-counsel in the case. "That's exactly what we're going to prove at trial."

The trial is scheduled for July 1998.

In addition to Dennis and Kimmel, TLPJ's legal team in Cureton v. NCAA includes Danielle Banks of Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young, LLP., David Schoen of New York City, and J. Richard Cohen, Legal Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center.