Fork Union, VA – "It's a bit like that

feeling you get standing in your stocking feet at the airport security line with

your shoes in your hand," says Lt. General John E. Jackson, Jr., President of

Fork Union Military Academy. "You're pleased that the appropriate

authorities are taking their jobs so seriously, but you're frustrated that

they are taking their time scrutinizing you instead of out catching the real

culprits. This is outrageous behavior which affects lots of young men who are

considering coming to our school next month. It is an unconscionable act to

paint the Academy with the same brush as those who are mocking the system. This

situation needs to be rectified by the NCAA at the speed of light or irreparable

damage will be result."

School officials at Fork Union Military Academy are baffled by their inclusion

on a list of schools subject to further review published yesterday by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association. The NCAA has been under pressure to

better regulate the upsurge in specialized "prep schools" that seek to give

athletes the mantle of college eligibility while offering little in the way of

education. "Fork Union is not in that category, we've been around for 109

years." states General Jackson. "Our record of academic achievement stands

on its own and to question the rigor, without even visiting the campus, or, at

the very least, telling the Academy what concern it may have, underscores the

lack of sensitivity and professionalism one normally comes to expect from the

NCAA."

Investigative reports by writers with the New

York Times and Washington Post newspapers, among others, have uncovered a range

of fraud and academic abuses at a variety of bogus schools that contain coaches

and athletes, but offer very little in the way of classrooms and teachers. Some

of these schools claim to offer correspondence courses or other classes, but

have no educational accreditation. Athletes in search of an easy route into

college have been drawn into some of these questionable programs and the NCAA

has formed a special committee to look into such practices.

"If you were to describe the polar opposite

of a 'diploma mill' you would be describing Fork Union Military Academy,"

said Dr. Robert Miller, the school's Academic Dean. "Our academic program is

well-defined and rigorous, and the success of our graduates at the college level

is a testament to that."

Founded

in 1898 by a Baptist minister and housed on a 1,000-acre campus in central

Virginia, the school has established a solid reputation throughout the nation

for its structure, discipline, and well-rounded program designed to develop

young men in body, mind, and spirit.

Students at Fork Union, referred to as cadets, arise to the bugle's call at

6:00am, march to breakfast, and begin their class day at 8:00am where they study

college preparatory courses until mid-afternoon. The afternoon is filled with

athletics and activities until dinner time. After dinner, the cadets report to

their barracks rooms where they engage in a mandatory study period for over two

hours each school night. Then it's lights out until 6:00am the next morning.

While

the school is well-known for its outstanding athletic programs, the vast

majority of cadets are there to take advantage of the school's strong college

preparatory academics. Graduating seniors in recent years have been accepted to

outstanding universities across the country including the University of

Virginia, Vanderbilt, the United States Military Academy at West Point, the

United States Air Force Academy, Duke University, and Harvard.

Fork Union Military Academy is accredited by the Virginia Association of

Independent Schools and is recognized as accredited by the Virginia Council on

Public Education and the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Education. Just

this past Spring of 2006, the school completed the intensive on-site examination

process required for recertification by the VAIS organization and received a

highly favorable report from Visiting Committee that conducted a thorough audit

of all the school's practices and policies. The accreditation visits are

conducted on campus at five-year intervals with close scrutiny of the academics,

curriculum, financial health, governance, and overall viability of the school,

as measured against seventy-six standards of good practice.

One

of the characteristics of the school believed to have prompted the attention of

NCAA officials is the large number of athletes receiving scholarship offers in

relation to the school's size. In a school with a total enrollment of

approximately 550 students, two or three dozen athletes go on to participate in

Division I college athletic programs each year. Fork Union Military Academy has

produced two Heisman Trophy winners (Vinny Testaverde and Eddie George -

pictured left), at least six NBA players, and more than 70 players in the

National Football League throughout its long history.

School officials point to this level of success as a sign of the work ethic

instilled by the Academy, rather than a symptom of sloppy academics and easy

grades.

Eddie George, an NFL All-Pro player for many years and an alumnus of the

Academy, described this emphasis on academic achievement in a Dallas radio

interview last year, saying, "I was able to draw strength and encouragement to

pursue not only my athletic goals, but to become more than just an athlete, but

to become a good student and to move forth and become anything that I chose to

be in life. That environment instilled a lot of needed discipline in my life at

that time. I can't say enough about the staff and the people there that

genuinely care about you as a person and want to see you do well academically

because they all understand that your athletic career will one day come to an

end, but education and knowledge is power and is everlasting until your life

ends."

Fork Union Military Academy officials say that

no one from the NCAA has visited their school to make any determination about

the school's academic fitness, but that they welcome the examination.

"It is a bit disconcerting to be listed

alongside some of these other so-called schools," says Lt. General Jackson,

"but we encourage the NCAA's investigation into the practices of all such

schools and welcome NCAA officials to come to our campus and give us a thorough

look as well. Our doors are open to them and we are confident they will find

what parents and students have found here for over 100 years – a school

committed to doing the Lord's work and committed to helping young men achieve

success both in academics and in life."

# # #

About Fork Union Military Academy

Fork Union Military Academy in Fork Union, Virginia, is a college preparatory,

military boarding school for young men in Grades 6 through 12 and postgraduates.

Affiliated with the Baptist General Association of Virginia but open to those of

all religious denominations, Fork Union was founded in 1898 and has a rich

tradition promoting character, leadership, and scholarship.

Contact: Dan Thompson, 434-842-4372 or 434-996-7772