Hooray for Ohio State University for suspending one of its star football players, Maurice Clarett, for violating NCAA rules on gifts and lying. Hooray to Clarett for exposing one of the great hypocrisies of college sports.

Clarett, the 20-year-old running back who led the Ohio State Buckeyes to a national championship as a freshman last year, had his car broken into and then lied to police about the value of stolen goods.

That prompted an investigation by the NCAA, which found that Clarett had committed 16 violations, including reportedly receiving money from a "father figure."

Rather than wait for NCAA sanctions, Ohio State decided to suspend Clarett for a year, even though a football player of his stature could bring the school millions of dollars through TV coverage and alumni generosity.

Clarett made it plain that he did not think cracking open a book was important to him. He would rather be cracking open a linebacker's helmet in the NFL. But since 1990 the professional league has prohibited drafting players until after they have been out of high school for three years. Since he is only a sophomore, Clarett would have had to wait two more years before he could join the pros.

He could play football in Canada. The Montreal Alouettes have the rights to Clarett, but Alouettes general manager Jim Popp has said that contact would have to be initiated by Clarett if he wants to play in the Canadian Football League.

Clarett said he is considering challenging the NFL rule under antitrust laws. The legal threat has a good chance to succeed.

A successful court challenge is the reason the National Basketball Association can draft players out of high school.

Which brings us to the point: If Clarett or any other outstanding athlete -- or mediocre one, for that matter -- doesn't want a college education, get them out of there. There are far too many qualified students who can't go to college because athletes such as Clarett are taking up their slots.

Clarett's situation shines a spotlight on a dark corner of college and professional sports. Too often, colleges use their sports prowess to bring alumni dollars and corporate donations to their coffers.

The norm is that university athletic programs operate in their own universe on many campuses. Athletes are pampered and receive special treatment on everything from classes to food and living accommodations.

The cynical college priorities seem to say, who cares if the athletes graduate as long as they can run 40 yards in less than 4.3 seconds, shoot 60 percent on three-point attempts or pitch a fastball at 95 mph?

The schools end up acting as farm teams for professional sports, teaching young athletes the basics of their sports while the pros wait around for them to "mature" or develop. The reality, of course, is that most of those college atheletes will never make the pros.

Professional football is the chief beneficiary of this practice because it is the only major sport that prohibits drafting youngsters just out of high school.

Although professional basketball and baseball have no self-imposed age requirements, participation in college sports gives future stars a chance to hone their skills before turning pro.

Schools throughout the country are guilty of pursuing better teams at the expense of academics. As vaunted as Cal's academic reputation is, an NCAA study shows UC Berkeley was able to graduate only 44 percent of its 1996 freshman football players, a 40 percent differential with the rest of that year's freshman class.

For all Cal athletes in all sports, the graduation rate was a more respectable 73 percent, 11 points above the national average and second in the Pac 10 after Stanford's 84 percent.

"We want to ultimately have the football team's graduation rate as close to the general student body's as possible," said Cal athletic director Stephen Gladstone.

Ohio State's actions and the NCAA's and Cal's efforts to improve the graduation rate are commendable, but Clarett's challenge to the NFL is also a challenge that all college sports programs need to address.