Academic Requirements

Derek Brown, a former standout running back for Servite High School, said Saturday that he has met the academic requirements under Proposition 48 and will be eligible to play football this fall at Nebraska. But that didn't stop Brown from criticizing the NCAA rule that kept him sidelined his freshman season. "I hate it," Brown said of Prop. 48. "I think it's real stupid." The proposition requires incoming freshman athletes to maintain a 2.

Bill Redell has resigned as assistant to the president at Cal Lutheran, a school official said Tuesday. His resignation came one month after contents of a report written and submitted to school President Jerry H. Miller by Redell calling for the school to relax academic requirements for scholarship athletes were published by The Times. Jim Buchheim, CLU sports information director, said the proposals irritated faculty members, but he stopped short of saying the report caused Redell's departure.

Americans widely doubt the integrity of the nation's major sports colleges, believing they commonly give secret payments and inflated grades to student athletes, a Media General-Associated Press poll has found. A majority of respondents in the national survey also suspected athletic booster clubs of making secret payments to players. And two-thirds said the colleges overemphasize sports and neglect academic standards for athletes.

The Irvine Unified School District has closed the final chapter in the case of Melissa Fontes, the former Woodbridge High School cheerleader who sued the district four years ago after she was dropped from the pep squad for failing a chemistry class. Responding to an August state Supreme Court decision, the school board Tuesday ended its no-fail policy, which was found to be discriminatory by the court because it did not apply to athletes.

The ruling body of California community college athletics voted Friday at its annual meeting at the Irvine Hyatt to stiffen the academic requirements for athletes. The Commission on Athletics' rule will require student athletes to take at least nine units of classes per semester that count toward graduation with an Associate of Arts degree or a certificate program as defined by the college's catalogue. The rule omits physical education classes in the sport they play as a core class.

As a veteran of the kindergarten trenches, teacher Liz Lozano knows how tough it can be to regiment a classroom of antsy kids, particularly very young boys. So when it came time to put her own two sons in a Los Angeles school, she didn't hesitate--to hold them back a year, that is. "We wanted [them] to develop creativity and thinking skills before starting because kindergarten is so academic now," she said.

Derek Brown's feet are a blur as he tucks the football under his arm, sidesteps a defensive tackle and drags a linebacker into the secondary. Carrying a football always has been easy for Derek Brown, ever since he strapped on his helmet and raced through the youth leagues in La Habra. He just wishes life's options came as easily as they do in football.

Andre Miller of Verbum Dei High had all the right basketball moves. The 6-3 guard could dribble with either hand, drive to the basket or pull up to hit a jump shot from three-point range. Miller also scored high marks in the classroom, carrying a 3.0 grade-point average through high school, a 3.8 in his senior year. Miller, however, fell short in college entrance exam scores.

Potential UCLA basketball recruit Schea Cotton and his family met with school officials Tuesday but made no decision about whether to appeal the NCAA ruling that declared him academically ineligible, the school said. In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, the school said that Rich Herczog, director of compliance for the athletic department, and Donald Morrison, UCLA faculty athletic representative, discussed "various options" with the Cottons.

Tommy Prince, who lost a scholarship to attend UCLA after his college entrance exam was invalidated last week, has been admitted to Arizona State and plans to register this weekend, his mother said Wednesday. Diane Prince said her son, a 6-foot-5 guard/forward from Compton Dominguez High, was contacted by Arizona State coaches after UCLA revoked its scholarship because of questions arising from the Scholastic Assessment Test. "Hopefully it will come back to [haunt] UCLA," she said.