To the editor:

I am dismayed by the plight of Marcus and Markieff Morris, who recently arrived in our town to play basketball. According to reports, the Morris twins couldn’t practice with the basketball team – or even go to class – this week because they hadn’t been approved to attend college by a mysterious bureaucratic chamber that is apparently called the NCAA Clearinghouse. (The twins were deemed eligible on Thursday.)

Although I recognize and affirm the need for academic standards in higher education, I question whether the third week of the semester is a reasonable time to debate how those standards apply to students who are supposed to be entering college. Isn’t it possible to give these young men a clear and timely answer on whether they are eligible? If they are going to be staying, they really should be starting their classes.

The reports refer to a large influx of students entering the process just before the deadline. Although we can certainly acknowledge the magnitude of the challenge this would cause for the clearinghouse, we should also lend our thoughts to the large influx of money entering the coffers of the NCAA because of these very same students. Wouldn’t it be appropriate – and even ethical – to divert some resources from the business of counting that money and actually hire some extra help to get on with the business of counting the athletes?

Joe Casad,
Lawrence