Grade regulations/academic standards for new college athletes are discussed by the president of Tennessee State University, based on the objectives of Proposition 48, which was adopted in 1982 by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The proposition applies to Division 1 schools and would require that academically high-risk students demonstrate satisfactory academic progress before attaining athletic eligibility. The proposition is evaluated from three points of view: (1) the expectation of the student-athletes and of the institutions that recruit them, (2) the enforceability of current academic standards and their effects on different student populations, and (3) the prescription for providing leadership to produce fair and effective standards in the future. Current eligibility rules require entering athletes to have a 2.00 average from high school on a 4.00 scale. The new requirements will add a combined verbal and mathematic scholastic aptitude test score of 700, or a 15 composite American College Testing score and a 2.00 average in 11 academic high school courses. Five criticisms of the proposition are discussed, along with a proposal to allocate 74 million dollars for academic support programs at the 277 Division I colleges. A unique feature of this proposal is to have vested with the NCAA an academic accreditation component. (SW)