Vanderbilt to host SEC meeting on academics

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - Faculty leaders from the 12 Southeastern Conference schools plan to meet next week for the first time to discuss the role of academics in collegiate athletics. <br> <br> Vanderbilt, whose athletic director Todd Turner is the chairman of an NCAA task force studying how to encourage and improve academic performance in athletics, is hosting the meeting May first and second. <br> <br> Vanderbilt officials said Thursday that SEC Commissioner Mike Slive and NCAA President Myles Brand will speak at the meeting. <br> <br> Faculty leaders will discuss joining schools in the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences in a coalition to ensure faculty involvement in proposed NCAA academic reforms. The Big Ten faculty met last year and encouraged their SEC counterparts to do the same. <br> <br> At last year&#39;s SEC meetings, Vanderbilt officials proposed connecting the number of athletic scholarships a university can offer to its graduation rates. There was little support. <br> <br> Academic reform in the NCAA has already started. More stringent NCAA eligibility requirements tied to academics go into effect this fall.

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