NCAA Chief Asks Delay of Bradley Bill

WASHINGTON —  The head of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn., pleading for more time for the organization to act on its own, pledged today to lobby for a Senate bill to require colleges to disclose the graduation rates of their athletes unless the NCAA takes action on the matter at its January meeting.

However, that assertion by NCAA Executive Director Dick Schultz at a Senate committee hearing did not deter Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), a former NBA star, who said he will continue to push the legislation and hopes to have it passed before January.

The NCAA collects graduation data from its member institutions and issues it in an annual report. However, the report is not broken down by individual colleges.

The Bradley bill would require that the individual figures be reported publicly to the U.S. Department of Education and that each institution also disclose its own rates to prospective athletic recruits.