Eligibility: NWP-LAKE Basketball-Al-Tamimi

2022-23 Season

October 17, 2022

Facts:

Abdul Al-Tamimi is currently a student at Lakeland College.

During the 2021-22 academic year, Mr. Al-Tamimi attended NWP, where he was a member of the Men’s Basketball team.

Mr. Al-Tamimi completed 9 credits during the Fall 2021 semester but only completed 3 credits during the Winter 2022 semester. He then completed 6 credits at MacEwan University over the Summer, attaining a total of 18 credits by August 31, 2022. Mr. Al-Tamimi expressly took the Summer courses with the intention of participating for Lakeland during the 2022-23 academic year.

In the Universal Transfer Form (UTF) sent by NWP to Lakeland, NWP indicated that Mr. Al-Tamimi would not have been eligible to compete at NWP during the 2022-23 academic year as his GPA, which included the results of the courses Mr. Al-Tamimi completed at MacEwan, was only 1.62, which falls below NWP’s minimum requirement of a 1.7 GPA. Of note, Mr. Al-Tamimi’s GPA for the 6 credits achieved at MacEwan was 2.2.

Lakeland does not question whether Mr. Al-Tamimi would have been eligible at NWP had he returned for the 2022-23 academic year. However, Lakeland asks whose academic standards (in this case, minimum GPA) should apply to Mr. Al-Tamimi given that he did not plan to return to NWP at the time he took summer courses at MacEwan. Lakeland points out that although Mr. Al-Tamimi was aware that he was ineligible at the time he left NWP and knew that he had to achieve 6 credits through summer courses, he received no guidance from NWP that he was required to meet a certain minimum GPA to be eligible to compete upon his transfer to Lakeland.

Lakeland seeks a ruling that Mr. Al-Tamimi is immediately eligible to compete during the 2022-23 academic year.

Ruling:

Article I Section 5 Rule 1.6.4.1 of the ACAC Operating Code states as follows:

Academic Eligibility

Transfer Students 1.6.4.1 A student-athlete who transfers to a CCAA institution from a post-secondary institution outside of or within the CCAA is considered eligible to compete immediately in the CCAA if the student-athlete is deemed academically eligible to compete in the subsequent semester at the previous institution they attended.

The relevant date to determine ACAC eligibility for the subsequent academic year is August 31st. While the MacEwan credits can be considered in that determination, it remains within NWP’s discretion to determine Mr. Al-Tamimi’s eligibility based on its internal standards for any results attained prior to August 31st. This is particularly appropriate given that Mr. Al-Tamimi participated for NWP during the 2021-22 academic year and 12/18 credits were attained at NWP. While Mr. Al-Tamimi’s results at MacEwan are appropriately included in the determination of his eligibility, it is not appropriate to “cherry pick” the 2.2 GPA he attained at MacEwan, particularly given that his GPA for the 12 credits attained at NWP during the 2021-22 academic year was 0.88.

NWP was not required to provide ongoing eligibility advice to Mr. Al-Tamimi following the completion of the Winter 2022 semester. As such, what Mr. Al-Tamimi may or may not have known about the results he needed to attain at MacEwan to meet NWP’s minimum GPA is not relevant to this ruling.

Based on the above, NWP’s determination of Mr. Al-Tamimi’s eligibility for the 2021-22 is determinative. As a result, Mr. Al-Tamimi is not currently eligible and must reinstate his eligibility in compliance with the provisions of the ACAC Operating Code.

Sincerely,

Bill Hendsbee 
ACAC Commissioner