FP-OM THE H ILL
Scoping Out
ACL Risk Factors
The Anny, Navy and
Air Force academies
- rivals on the sports
field - are cooperat-
ing on a$2.8 million
study of risk factors for
acommon knee injury
among athletes. The
study, led by
researchers at UNC's
Injury Prevention
Research Center, Duke
and Andrews Air Force
Base, will study 4,800
male and female
cadets, focusing on
injuries to the knee's
anterior cruciate liga-
ment, or ACL, most of
which are sports-relat-
ed. The injury rate to
the knee's ACL is up to
eight times higher for
women than it is for
men.
NCAA Posts Graduation Data One Year Ahead of Start of Sanctions
Beginning in the 2005-06 acadernic year, the NCAA means business about athletes staying on track to graduate. On Feb. 28, it released data that
show Division I universities where their trouble spots are
ifsome numbers don't improve over the next year.
wrestling and men's golf received APRs of 900. Among
Division I wrestling teams nationally, UNC ranked in
the 20th-30th percentile, meaning that 20 to 30 percent
of schools had lower numbers in progress toward gradu-
ation; the golf team ranked in the 10th-20th percentile.
At Carolina, 26 of the 28 varsity sports scored above Among Carolina's most visible sports, football
the minimum standard; the exceptions were
wrestling and men's golf.
Scbools that fail to keep at least 50 percent
of tbeir athletes on track to graduate within
five years first would get a warning, then
could lose scbolarships, could lose tbe right to
participate in postseason bowl games and
tournaments, and ultimately could forfeit rev-
enues shared by conference members.
The NCAA sent Academic Progress Rate
information for all sports from 2003-04 to all
of the schools. The statistics indicate that
about 7 percent of all sports teams - most of
them in football, baseball and men's basketball
ranked in the 80th-90th percentile, men's
basketball in the 90th-100th percentile, and
women's basketball in the 30th-40th per-
centile.
Jack Evans, Hettleman professor of busi-
ness administration in the Kenan-Flagler
Business School, serves on the NCAA Man-
agement Council and is Carolina's faculty
athletics representative to the NCAA and the
Atlantic Coast Conference. Evans said that it
is hoped that the graduation rate-based
reforms will push more schools toward set-
ting up academic support programs for ath-
letes similar to the one at UNC. U1timately,
- could be subject to penalties next year. The NCAA
won't penalize based on the 2003-04 data alone, but it
could act after it has this year's numbers.
Evans said, coaches may be forced to back offrecruit-
ing academically marginal students.
Graduation rates in football and men's basketball have
In a complicated formula, an APR of925 equates to a
50 percent graduation rate, which the new NCAA
reforms have set as the minimum acceptable level. The
organization has begun to track athletes year by year, and
the APR is a product of20 percent per year progress
toward achieving a degree.
been the subject of news reports in the light of the
Knight Foundation Coll1ll1ission on Intercollegiate Ath-
letics' recent findings that 27 of the 56 schools whose
football teams were chosen for bowl games last year
failed to graduate at least 50 percent of their players over
a six:-year period. In basketball, the conunission found
that fewer than one-third ofthe men's teams in last
year's NCAA tournament would have qualified under a
50 percent requirement.
Nationally the average APR rates for football, base-
ball and men's basketball is less than 925.
At Carolina, those sports are each above 925. But
At Carolina,
26 if the 28
varsity sports
scored above
the minimum
standard; the
exceptions were
wrestling and
men~ golf.
Faculty Positions, Class Sizes, Libraries Vulnerable in Proposed Budget Cuts
Facing the threat of budget cuts for 2005-06 totaling as high as $16.3 million, University officials have
compiled a list of programs and positions
that might be trimmed or eliminated to
acconmlodate a 4 percent cut being dis-
cussed in the N.C. General Assembly.
A cut of 4 percent, according to the
report, would result in dropping 65 £1culty
positions, increasing some class sizes, reduc-
ing admissions to the nursing program,
eliminating 200 class sections, reducing
funding for research and scaling back
library resources, among other things. The
reduction being discussed would be recur-
ring, not just for a single year.
It's st.ill early to assume the magnitude
of the cuts will reach $16.3 million, said
Stephen Allred ' 74, executive associate
provost, but the list reflects preparation for
the possibility. Legislators are trying to fig-
ure out how to resolve a serious revenue
shortfall. The University has dealt with $41
million in recurring cuts and $73 million
in nonrecurring cuts since fiscal 2001-02.
4
May /J II 11e 2005
