Editor:

Businessman Hernando Solis was allegedly moved to petition to restore Blair's academic eligibility after seeing Blair and his mother serve dinner at a local Salvation Army last semester, and said his contributions to the community, university and team war ranted another chance. The Arizona Board of Regents would probably not even consider such a petition from a student-athlete regardless of his or her philanthropic activities.

However, Blair is a valuable piece of a basketball program that rests upon being successful in order to maintain nationwide recognition which facilitates recruitment of top athletes, attracts more students, fans and alumni, and also provides business for the local community. Nonetheless, the issue is whether Blair's value to the university and local community supersedes the criteria that all other student-athletes must meet. By granting Blair eligibility, the Board of Regents would reveal that the 2.0 sta ndard is a double standard.

It seems Blair could have avoided this mess if he would have kept his end of the bargain and met the 2.0 grade criteria that all other student-athletes (including his teammates) have met. Whether or not Blair is getting an education seems to be irrelevant to those people such as Solis petitioning for Blair's reinstatement. Otherwise, they would have petitioned Blair to study.

By Iehab Ibrahim
finance senior