Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 19, 1992 TAG: 9202190147
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: KANSAS CITY, MO. LENGTH: Medium
LAWMAKERS, NCAA IN LINE FOR SUPREME COURT BATTLE
A feud between the NCAA and state legislatures who want to regulate college investigations probably is headed for the U.S. Supreme Court, NCAA chief Dick Schultz said Tuesday.The NCAA has filed suit in federal court in Las Vegas challenging the constitutionality of a Nevada law that would regulate enforcement proceedings and guarantee due process. A similar law has passed the state Senate in Kansas and comes up for hearings in the Kansas House today.
Illinois and Florida also have passed similar laws, which are, Schultz said, "meant to gut the enforcement process."
"We don't really have any feel for the case other than the judge seems to have a good understanding and has an interest in the case," Schultz said of the Nevada case. "If we lose, we'll appeal. If we win, I'm sure the other side will appeal.
"It's the kind of legal issue I think the Supreme Court will want to take a look at. This could go a couple of years."
If the state bills stand, the NCAA maintains it wouldn't be able to enforce its rules uniformly.
"We'd have to apply our rules differently in those four states than we do in the other 46 states," Schultz said at a college football forum. "We're hoping we'll be successful in federal court.
"The issue we're going in on is that these laws violate our constitutional rights to interstate commerce because we're in all 50 states."
Schultz is a Kansas resident, and the NCAA headquarters is in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Kan. He has lobbied against the Kansas measure.
"We're hoping that bill can be killed," he said. "It's not good legislation."
Contrary to some reports, Schultz said the NCAA isn't planning to kick out schools in states that adopt such laws.
"We're not even contemplating that," he said. "What we've found is the schools are not supporting this. There wasn't an NCAA school in Illinois that supported the Illinois legislation. There's not a school in Kansas that supports the Kansas legislation.
"It seems unfair to penalize those schools because of what other people are doing."
Kansas athletic director Bob Frederick will join several officials, including NCAA president Judy Sweet and former U.S. attorney general Benjamin Civilletti, at the Kansas House on Thursday to speak against the bill.
"I'll be saying we believe and support Dick Schultz and his attempts to reform the enforcement process and that we believe that reform should come from within," said Frederick. "We're opposed to state or federal intervention."
Schultz said the Nevada law will have impact far beyond athletics.
"The board of regents have taken the position in the lawsuit that the law is unfair to the state institutions," he said. "UNLV has already found they're subject to the same laws we are.
"Their basic statement is that because of this law, they don't have institutional control of their athletic program. They're concerned this will spill out of the athletic program into other administrative hearings."
The NCAA maintains it provides for due process but is restricted by not having subpoena power.
"Everybody involved in an infractions case gets a lawyer," Schultz said. "So lawyers wanting to win their case take a look at what they're doing, how can they create public support. The easiest thing to say is the NCAA doesn't provide due process. That gets blown completely out of whack.
"We have to put this in perspective. These are not criminal hearings. This is a private organization, a voluntary, unincorporated association. Why should states even have the authority to dictate how private associations conduct their affairs?"