HBCU College Athletes Challenge the NCAA’s Academic Performance Program
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) imposes academic standards to ensure that student-athletes are more than just athletes.[1] The Academic Performance Program (“APP”) requires college teams to meet specific academic benchmarks based on team members’ grades, eligibility, and whether they are graduating or remaining in school.[2] Programs must meet these standards regardless of their school’s mission or resources.[3] If a team’s members do not meet the academic standards, the NCAA imposes penalties, including banning the team from postseason competition.[4] To measure a team’s academic success, the NCAA calculates an Academic Progress Rate (“APR”).[5] According to the NCAA, the APR “holds institutions accountable for the academic progress of their student-athletes.”[6] APR is calculated by providing one point to each student-athlete receiving athletically related financial aid for staying in school and one point for being academically eligible.[7] Then, “a team’s total points are divided by points possible and then multiplied by 1,000 to equal the team’s APP.”[8] Additionally, a team’s rolling four-year APR is used “to determine accountability.”[9] To compete in championships, teams must earn a four-year average APR of 930.[10]
In December 2020, two former Black student-athletes and one current Black student-athlete from historically Black colleges and universities (“HBCUs”) filed a lawsuit against the NCAA alleging that the NCAA’s Academic Performance Program (“APP”) is discriminatory.[11] One of the plaintiffs, Troyce Manassa, played basketball at Savannah State University (“SSU”), a historically black university in Georgia.[12] During his senior year, his team was banned from postseason play by the NCAA’s APP rules.[13] Another plaintiff, Austin Dasent, also played basketball for SSU.[14] During his junior year and first year at SSU, his team was also banned from postseason play by the NCAA’s APP rules.[15] Neither Manassa nor Dasent were aware of SSU’s NCAA penalties, “including ban from postseason play, until after [they] committed to and arrived at SSU.”[16] Lastly, plaintiff J’Ta Freeman is playing women’s lacrosse at Howard University, another historically black university.[17] Her team is at risk of being banned from postseason play by the NCAA’s current APP rules.[18] Freeman was unaware that the NCAA has banned the Howard University women’s lacrosse from postseason play in the past.[19] Manassa, Dasent, and Freeman want to represent “a national class of all Black student-athletes who participated in Division I HBCU athletics and whose teams were subjected to a postseason access ban from the 2010-2011 school year through the date of class certification.”[20] Additionally, Freeman wants to represent a District of Columbia subclass.[21]
The plaintiffs argue that the APP’s design and implementation perpetuate discrimination against Black student-athletes at HBCUs because HBCUs focus on mostly enrolling low-income, first-generation, and historically disadvantaged Black students.[22] The lawsuit highlights that HBCU teams are forty-three times more likely to receive a postseason competition ban than a team from a predominately white institute.[23] The suit also adds that HBCUs make up only 6.5 percent of NCAA Division I schools, but seventy-two percent of teams banned from postseason competition since 2010 are from HBCUs.[24] Additionally, the complaint cites a 2018 study that evaluated if race or low resources lead to greater APP penalties.[25] The study compared HBCUs to similarly resourced non-HBCUs. The study concluded that the HBCUs were six to eight times more likely to receive APP penalties than similarly resourced, non-HBCUs.[26]
On February 8, 2021, the NCAA argued that the Manassa and Dasent’s claims are barred by Georgia’s statute of limitations.[27] The plaintiffs argue that the NCAA purposefully hid its policy’s bias and time should start from when the players discovered it.[28] The NCAA also argued that the lawsuit does not meet the pleading requirements. Specifically, the NCAA claimed that the lawsuit “doesn’t adequately claim that the [APP] is discriminatory or that Black players have been harmed by the bans.”[29] The plaintiffs argue that the defendant’s arguments rely on a misunderstanding of the applicable legal standard.[30] They argue that they alleged a plausible and redressable injury-in-fact: discriminatory treatment.[31] Additionally, they argue that being banned from postseason play affects their post-college recruitment options and keeps them from receiving other benefits promised in their commitment contracts.[32] They also reiterated the data in their complaint backing the alleged racial discriminatory treatment.[33] Furthermore, the complaint alleges that the NCAA has historically imposed academic requirements that disproportionately affect Black athletes.[34] To prevent further discrimination, the plaintiffs are seeking an injunction.[35] They are also seeking compensation and punitive damages on behalf of the proposed class injured by the APP standards.[36]
[1] See Tom Goldman, Challenging The NCAA: HBCUS Say No More Discrimination In Academic Rules, NPR (Dec. 10, 2020), https://www.npr.org/2020/12/10/944982415/challenging-the-ncaa-hbcus-say-no-more-discrimination-in-academic-rules.
[2] See id.
[3] See Derrick Z. Jackson, Lawsuit by HBCU Athletes Fight What It Calls NCAA’s Systemic Racism, The Undefeated (Jan. 15, 2021), https://theundefeated.com/features/lawsuit-by-hbcu-athletes-fights-what-it-calls-ncaas-systemic-racism/.
[4] See Laura Berg, Black Athlete Say NCAA Academic Rules Are Racially Biased, Law360 (Dec. 10, 2020), https://www.law360.com/articles/1336777/black-athletes-say-ncaa-academic-rules-are-racially-biased/.
[5] See Academic Progress Rater Explained, NCAA, https://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/academic-progress-rate-explained.
[6] Id.
[7] See id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] See id.
[11] Complaint at 49, Manassa et al. v. National Collegiate Athletic Association et al., No. 1:20-cv-3172 (S.D. Ind. Dec. 10, 2020).
[12] See Berg, supra note 4.
[13] See id.
[14] See Complaint, supra note 11, at 6.
[15] See id. at 7.
[16] Id. at 6-7.
[17] See Berg, supra note 4.
[18] See id.
[19] See Complaint, supra note 11, at 9.
[20] See Berg, supra note 4.
[21] See Complaint, supra note 11, at 44.
[22] See Erin Shaak, ‘Intentional Discrimination’: Class Action Claims NCAA’s Academic Requirements Disproportionately Penalize Black Athletes, ClassAction.org (Dec. 11, 2020), https://www.classaction.org/news/intentional-discrimination-class-action-claims-ncaas-academic-requirements-disproportionately-penalize-black-athletes.
[23] See id.
[24] See id.
[25] See Complaint, supra note 11, at 37.
[26] See id. at 38. For access to the 2018 study, see Ryan J.R. Westman, Investigating Equity: An Evaluation of the Relationship of the NCAA’s APR Metric on Similarly Resourced Historically Black and Predominately White the NCAA Division-I Colleges and Universities (Aug 23, 2018) Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses, https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3664&context=dissertations.
[27] Rachel Scharf, Black Athletes Say NCAA Must Face Academic Rule Bias Suit, Law360 (Mar. 18, 2021), https://www.law360.com/sports-and-betting/articles/1366227/black-athletes-say-ncaa-must-face-academic-rule-bias-suit?copied=1.
[28] See id.
[29] See id.
[30] See id.
[31] See id.
[32] See id.
[33] See id.
[34] See id.
[35] See Berg, supra note 4.
[36] See Student Athletes at Black Colleges and Universities Sue NCAA Claiming “Intentional Discrimination” in Academic Performance Program According to FeganScott Law Firm, Bus. Wire (Dec. 10, 2020), https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201210006075/en/.