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Joseph C. Ellers Collection

VickeryK Cassette 1, Side 1

Media

Part of Interview: Vickery, Kenneth N.

Title

VickeryK Cassette 1, Side 1

Source

Kenneth N. Vickery Interview

Date

1980s

Description

Side 1

1:14 Vickery was on a College Board panel for the retention of athletes. He talks about the College Board exam and the fact that not all colleges currently had it.

3:00 He discusses the establishment and evolution of the college testing program. In the fall of 1961, the ACC set the SAT minimum at 800 (it was previously 750).

3:53 The Big 10 started academic standards/regulations in 1961. They had a program that awarded grants and aids based on scores and rank, but that had nothing to do with admissions. The students also needed a 1.7 grade point.

5:26 When the new requirements were adopted, institutions had 3 options. They could do an institutional test, use a conference table, or use a national table. The ACC went to the national table, but not many institutions went to that table because it was the highest standard. The NCAA was lenient at first about the options, but it later became stricter.

7:37 Georgia, Vanderbilt, and Florida all had College Boards, but the rest of the conference did not have much experience.

8:38 The 1.6 requirement was adopted in 1965, and it went into effect on January 1, 1966. It only governed NCAA post season events.

11:05 Vickery is asked how Clemson compared to other schools. Clemson is part of a conference with the highest standards. Clemson had a limitation on scholarships that the NCAA did not yet have. Athletes always had to meet the highest minimum standard at Clemson.

14:30 He comments on the situation at the University of Georgia where a teacher was accused of giving athletes grades. This type of situation never existed at Clemson because Clemson did not have classes like that. Students select a major from the beginning and take classes in that major immediately. There is not special group of athletic courses at Clemson.

19:58 What was Clemson's involvement in helping to establish the standards for the ACC? Clemson had the 750 on the SAT requirement in 1961, and the NCAA adopted it in 1965.

22:50 Vickery discusses the aspects of increasing minimum standards. The increase improved the ability to predict achievement based on scores and rank.

23:40 Clemson started requiring test, which was a big step for a state institution.

25:02 Clemson worked with USC, Wofford, Winthrop, and later the Citadel to form their own testing program. It consisted of about four different tests. They eventually gave that up and joined the College Board because they needed more than four test scores.

26:58 1958 was the year when the four schools got together and decided to put the minimum standards on admissions. This is when Clemson achieved national recognition.

28:56 The ACT was organized and gave its first test in 1958.

29:28 Before 1958, most students that graduated from a state high school were automatically accepted into state institutions.

30:10 Clemson was a leader with testing in both the state of South Carolina and in the nation.

30:35 Audio ends.

Rights

Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives. All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives.