A sociology professor at Auburn University whose allegations about bogus courses for athletes have created an uproar in Alabama may testify before a Congressional committee that has been looking into the tax exemptions enjoyed by nonprofit organizations like the NCAA. According to today’s Birmingham News, the professor, James Gundlach, has been interviewed by aides to the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee about appearing at a hearing in August or September.

Mr. Gundlach was the chief source for a New York Times article last week that accused the sociology department’s interim chairman of handing out high grades to more than a dozen football players in courses that required no attendance and little work—all to maintain the athletes’ eligibility to play, and to pump up the team’s Academic Progress Rate (The Chronicle, July 14).

The Ways and Means Committee began an inquiry into college sports last winter out of concern that big-time sports programs were evolving into commercial entertainment businesses that were only marginally connected to the tax-exempt purposes of higher education (The Chronicle, March 10).