A uniformly difficult issue

A high school athlete and officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, recently experienced a difficult situation involving a conflict between playing rules and religious custom.

Juashuanna Kelly of Washington, D.C.’s, Theodore Roosevelt High School, one of the area’s top middle-distance runners, elected not to compete in a meet after her uniform was deemed to violate a National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) regulation governing the color of undergarments.

Kelly, a Muslim, said her faith requires her to cover all parts of her body but the head and face. Meet officials said that they did not object to Kelly covering her arms, legs and head. However, they said they disallowed her one-piece, customized undergarment because it was orange and blue rather than a single color, as prescribed by NFHS rules. NCAA track and field rules contain a similar one-color requirement for undergarments.

A Washington Post article cited a similar case involving the 2004 South Florida women’s basketball team, which included a Muslim student-athlete who wore a head scarf, long sleeves and long pants. The institution was planning to petition for a uniform waiver, but the student-athlete left the team first.

Bill seeks to control college costs

In February, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that seeks to hold down college costs by discouraging higher education institutions from raising tuition.

The bill would require the Education Department to publish a list of the nation’s most expensive colleges and would reduce states’ eligibility for new federal grants for states that cut funding for public colleges.

The measure also would require institutions to report annually on how much of their endowments they are spending to reduce costs, and would increase the value of Pell grants from $5,800 to $9,000 annually. The U.S. Senate had passed similar legislation earlier.

The New York Times reported that President Bush opposes many provisions in the bill. However, the White House stopped short of a veto threat.

It ain’t necessarily so

Don’t believe everything you read.

“Regret the Error,” a new book recently highlighted in Editor & Publisher magazine, claims that only about 2 percent of all factual errors reported in newspapers and other publications are ever corrected.

“There is a river of errors flowing out of newspapers,” author Craig Silverman told E&P. The likely culprits, he said, are increased workload and a hesitancy by journalists to admit errors for fear of criticism.

For a comprehensive review of media errata, see regrettheerror.com.

Super Fans role reversal

The most recent ESPN Sports Poll on level of sports enthusiasm shows a persistent decline in the percentage of “super fans” among 12- to 17-year-old males. More fans ages 18 to 34 now describe themselves as super fans, a sharp reversal from 1995, the first year of the survey.

Percentage of “super” fans among males