On Monday NCAA delegates voted to modify the controversial Proposition 42. Although Coach Joe Paterno thinks the new legislation is OK, he did argue against some of its specifics and several other University coaches agree with him.

"No, I'm not in favor (of the changes)," women's basketball coach Rene Portland said. "I think we have some strong academic standards and to go to college you have to meet those standards. In some cases we are making standards for a student-athlete different than the normal student. If you had those kinds of grades you wouldn't get in here."

Passed at the January 1987 convention, Prop 42 would have denied grant-in-aid to incoming athletes who did not meet the academic requirements of Proposition 48.

Prop 48, which passed in January 1983 and took effect in 1986, requires athletes to have a 2.0 grade point average in 11 core high school courses and a 700 minimum score on SAT exams. Prop 48 allows students who meet only one of the two requirements to still receive athletic scholarships. Those students, called "partial qualifiers" are not eligible for practice or competition and lose one year of eligibility.

Delegates voted 258-66-1 to modify Prop 42, allowing partial qualifiers to receive need-based financial aid rather than athletic grant-in-aid.

Portland said the changes will not affect recruiting and should not hurt the talent in the basketball pool because some schools will be willing to redshirt an academically unprepared athlete.

"People are going to hide them in (junior college) schools," she explained. "Students are going to show up in universities that are able to hide them better than we would here at Penn State."

Softball shortstop Allison Nave said the recent decision may take away the "dumb jock" stereotype.

"It puts higher standards on the athlete by placing more emphasis on academics rather than athletics," Nave, a junior, said. "It's also going to help in later life because academics is what's going to carry you, not athletics -- especially in women's sports."

"I think it's important to give the kids an opportunity to prove themselves and it's great if they are able to do that," men's swimming coach Peter Brown said. "It's good that some of the academic people are grabbing hold of things and getting some of the coaches and the athletic departments to calm down a little and get their act together."

Brown and golf coach Mary Kennedy are two Penn State coaches who have stressed academic excellence. Two years ago the men's swimming and diving team had the highest team GPA at the University. Last year it was second to the men's golf team.

Kennedy said it is important for her athletes to be able to cope with a demanding class schedule because they miss a considerable amount of school while at tournaments.

"To play a full-time schedule of golf, a kid has to be a student first," she said. "A lot of times with academics coming first, a scholarship doesn't matter if a golfer is coming here for the academic environment."

"I would never compromise a student's academics just to make him a better swimmer," Brown explained. "That would be very irresponsible on my part. To me that is something I would never change."

Swimming captain Brad Semle said he understands Prop 42, but doesn't see academics as being a problem for his team.

"There are schools where the swimmers aren't real bright, but it just doesn't affect us," Semle, a senior, said. "It hasn't been our practice to recruit any incoming freshman in that situation because there are enough people who want to come here that have done well in high school."

Portland said she does not even consider recruiting athletes who cannot survive in the classroom at Penn State.

"I've never had a Prop 48 kid on my team and I never will," she said.