In the debate surrounding the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Proposal 42, no easy answer exists.

Proponents of the proposal, including Penn State which voted in favor of it, are looking for tougher academic standards for college-athletes. Critics, such as Georgetown Basketball Coach John Thompson who walked off the court in protest but has since returned, said the proposal is based on tests which are culturally biased and of the students it will affect, about 90 percent are black.

Thompson's high profile protest fortunately has not gone unnoticed by the NCAA. The NCAA Council and the NCAA President's Commission will discuss the issue of Proposal 42 at their next meeting in April, the NCAA communications director, Jim Marchiony said.

While the options are cumbersome, enough doubt exists about the cultural and racial bias of the Scholastic Aptitude Test for the NCAA to not only hold off on the implementation of Proposal 42, but to repeal the measure outright at next year's convention. The measure penalizes, however unintentionally, people of a lower socioeconomic scale.

Cleaning up the tarnished image of college athletics definitely has its merits. Academic standards must be prioritized above sports, but not at the expense of those students who come from backgrounds where the public education in high schools doesn't adequately prepare them for the SATs, or whose cultural or racial backgrounds may put them at a disadvantage when taking the tests.

Louisiana State University Basketball Coach Dale Brown suggests that those responsible for the implementation of Proposal 42 "should be ashamed of themselves."

"Many of the people who voted for this proposal would have to look up the word 'ghetto' in the dictionary because they've never been there," Brown added.

Temple University Basketball Coach John Chaney and University of Pittsburgh Basketball Coach Paul Evans went further. Evans called the enactment of 42 "one of the most racist decisions I've ever seen," while Chaney called the NCAA a "racist organization."

According to College Board statistics, whites consistently outperform minority students on the SATs. For example, on the SATs white students averaged 935 last year while black students averaged 735, putting the average black student only 35 points from Proposal 42's proposed score.

The factors going into SAT scores are complex, including the make-up of the questions and the educational training students receive. There is enough doubt from educational and athletic leaders to question a rule which does not allow for flexibility based on grade point average.

Proposal 42 is an amendment to the existing Proposition 48 which was passed recently at the NCAA convention in San Francisco. Proposal 42 states that incoming freshman now must meet the requirements of a 2.0 grade point average and at least a 700 on the SATs or a 15 on the American College Test.

Proposition 48 in the past allowed for partial qualifiers -- a student-athlete who met only part of the requirements of Proposition 48. This athlete still could receive a scholarship but would not be allowed to play collegiate athletics in his or her freshman year and could not practice with the team, as well.

Proposal 42, in addition to stating that athletes must meet both eligibility requirements, also eliminates partial qualifiers. Athletes who fail to meet the requirements not only have to sit out for their freshman year, but they also are ineligible to receive an athletic scholarship in their freshman year and they are not permitted to practice with their teams. However, they are entitled to receive grants on a need or academic basis. Another option would be for student-athletes to take a part-time job.

These are not fair or feasible options because for many athletes, particularly someone on the lower economic scale, an athletic scholarship is the only realistic means of attending college. Without it, many athletes ultimately will end up with as little as two years eligibility remaining when and if they transfer to a Division I institution.

It is important to get and keep qualified student-athletes. However, the means of doing this are not easily agreed upon. There is enough doubt cast upon the viability of the SATs and Proposal 42 that the NCAA should not enact it.