By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

We hear all the time how college presidents are vowing to take back control of college athletics and want to underline the student part of the student-athlete equation.

Well, here's their chance in the Western Athletic Conference.

The WAC Council Tuesday voted to rescind the so-called six-credit rule whereby schools had to certify their football players passed six units or more in the most recent grading period to be eligible for bowl games. In effect, that would allow it to be replaced by a looser NCAA rule that, in most WAC cases, would not require certification at all.

The only thing standing in the way of the lowering of standards is the approval of the WAC Board of Directors, which is composed of presidents and chancellors, when it meets next month on Maui.

So, here's a silver-platter opportunity for the heads of the WAC campuses to stand up and, by keeping the six-credit rule, say with authority there needs to be some standards with teeth.

Asking athletes to pass six units when they are supposed to be taking at least 12 really isn't demanding that much. At the University of Hawai'i, in many cases, that just means a D or better in two of four classes.

If there is a problem doing that with all the tutorial resources athletes now have available to them, then you really have to wonder what's going on.

"The (six-credit) rule is a good rule," said WAC commissioner Karl Benson. "I think that it has generally done what was intended and that to put the 14-day window in drastically reduces the effective impact of the rule."

Indeed, the "six-credit" rule is intended to be a meaningful deterrent, keeping those in their final year of eligibility from blowing off classes altogether.

By requiring schools to timely certify their players, the six-credit rule holds athletes accountable and forces schools to keep an eye on them under the penalty of ineligibility.

Once upon a time certification was a laborious process. But after some initial kinks UH, Fresno State and Boise State have managed it smoothly enough the last two years even with quick turnarounds involved in playing in pre-Jan. 1 bowls. Now, as the current spring semester memos to faculty note, UH is able to post grades within three days.

In the WAC's case, dumping the six-credit rule it has shared with the Big 12, Southeastern Conference and others would be a big step back in responsibility. The new NCAA rule it would adopt is so watered down that any school concluding exams on or after Dec. 16 would not need to certify players through the Bowl Championship Series championship game, rendering the rule almost useless.

If WAC presidents and chancellors really want to have a say in athletics, here's an issue where they can — and should — take a meaningful stand.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.