NCAA Accuses Some Religious Schools Of Being Diploma Mills

According to an Associated Press report on Friday, the NCAA has discovered that some non-traditional, religiously-affiliated high schools are operating as diploma mills, with some engaging in outright fraud in the student credentials they certify. Next week the NCAA will release the name of schools from which it will no longer accept transcripts. A lawyer representing some of the parochial schools was quoted as saying that the NCAA's intrusion into their affairs would be an unconstitutional violation of church-state separation. This will likely be a difficult argument to maintain in light of the 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision in NCAA v. Tarkanian which held that the NCAA was not involved in state action in recommending to a state University that it suspend its basketball coach for violating NCAA rules.