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An Open Letter to FUMA Friends and Family regarding the recent NCAA review
From Lt. General John E. Jackson, Jr.
President
Fork Union Military Academy
Dear FUMA Family and Friends,
You may have seen news coverage about Fork Union Military Academy and the NCAA in recent days. I wanted to take the time to bring you up to date and explain the circumstances that led to those news stories.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is the organization that oversees most college athletics. A student athlete receiving an athletic scholarship to attend college must be certified as eligible by the NCAA Clearinghouse. The NCAA looks at the student's high school grade point average and SAT/ACT test scores to determine this eligibility. The goal of this initial eligibility check is to insure that student athletes are adequately prepared for the academic requirements of college.
In recent months, investigative reports in the New York Times and Washington Post have placed a spotlight on certain "schools" that might have a basketball team and a coach, but have no classrooms or textbooks. These "storefront schools" offer student athletes a high school diploma and a gateway into college, while offering little or no real academic preparation. The NCAA has been under increasing pressure to take decisive action and crack down on these so-called "diploma mills."
The NCAA began an investigation targeting, among other things, grade transcripts where student athletes transferred to a new school and showed "miraculous improvements" in their grade point average, or where sequential courses normally taken in successive years (such as Algebra I and Algebra II) were completed by students within a single academic year. NCAA investigators believed grade patterns such as these indicated further review.
As you know, Fork Union Military Academy sends dozens of student athletes to college on athletic scholarships each year. Many of these young men come to FUMA specifically to improve their prior academic performance. Due to the focus, structure, and discipline of our school, many students achieve remarkable academic improvement over their performance at their previous schools. Also, our One Subject Plan allows students to take sequential courses within a single year.
Our extraordinary record of academic success placed us squarely in the NCAA's sights.
On July 5, 2006 the NCAA published a list of twenty-two schools they intended to subject to a closer review in their attempt to ferret out bogus schools. Fork Union Military Academy's name was on that list alongside the name of one of the schools that had featured prominently in past newspaper stories characterizing that school as a diploma mill.
For two weeks, the Academy endured news stories and NCAA press statements regarding the review but offering little in the way of specific reasons why FUMA in particular was on that list. While sports writers and columnists publicly questioned FUMA's inclusion on the list, and others familiar with FUMA (including past NCAA President Gene Corrigan) gave public statements expressing their astonishment and outrage at FUMA's name being tarnished in this way, we waited for the NCAA officials to arrive on campus and ask their questions.
On July 19, 2006, two NCAA officials came to Fork Union and met with Fork Union's President, Academic Dean, Director of Admissions, Director of Guidance, coaches, and others. They asked questions about our academic program, our admissions process, and whether non-athletes saw the same level of academic improvement as did the athletes at our school. Staff members were able to answer every question asked and provide documentation and academic records to satisfy the NCAA's inquiries completely. None of their questions came as a surprise, and none was difficult to answer given our history, structure, and readily available documentation.
On July 21, 2006, the NCAA issued a press statement announcing that the NCAA would continue to accept grades, graduation, and transcript records from Fork Union Military Academy for the purposes of determining initial college eligibility for our athletes, effectively clearing FUMA's name.
Our results speak for themselves. Thousands of students over many generations have improved their academic performance at FUMA by learning the value of focus, self-discipline, and personal accountability. As you know, it is the hard work we expect of our students that brings about their academic achievement, certainly not any leniency in our academic standards and practices.
We applaud the desire of the NCAA to insure that all student athletes receive a quality educational experience. While it has been difficult to see our Academy's name spoken about in the press in the context of this inquiry, we remained confident that once the NCAA saw our campus and our dedicated staff, their concerns would evaporate. I want to thank and commend the staff and faculty of our fine Academy for their hard work and devotion to the young men entrusted to our care.
We put our trust and faith in the Lord and we were not disappointed.
Best regards,
Lt. General John E. Jackson, Jr., USAF (Ret.)
President
Posted by CPT Dan Thompson, Wednesday, July 26, 2006 11:00 AM
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