Schiller Says Proposal May Be Reconsidered

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Harvey Schiller, one of the most vocal proponents of Proposal 42, said that the legislation needs to be “more sensitive and understanding.”

The proposal, which would create harsher entrance criteria for incoming freshmen beginning in the 1990-91 school year, has come under fire by dozens of coaches. Georgetown coach John Thompson, one its most outspoken critics, said he would not participate in an National Collegiate Athletic Assn.-sanctioned event until there was further discussion on the rule he labled as “discriminatory.”

After absorbing the reaction, Schiller said Sunday that he is open to more discussion and perhaps changing the rule before it is to be implemented.

“I think one of the reasons for asking that it be delayed (until 1990) was there may be some reconsideration,” Schiller told the Washington Post. “Now that there is debate, it is demonstrating a need to make sure the legislation is more sensitive and understanding.”

By deeming that the rule not be put into effect until 1990, the NCAA left open the chance that it could be repealed at the January 1990 meeting at Dallas.

Proposal 42, approved by NCAA Division I members last Wednesday by a 163-154 margin, would prevent high school students who meet only part of the NCAA’s entrance criteria from receiving scholarships their first year in college.