Someone on the Miami board once asked why it's OK for academic scholarships to be pulled for students who aren't up to snuff but not OK for athletic scholarships to be pulled for athletes who aren't up to snuff. Fair question, I think.
A person doesn't win an academic scholarship if they don't have the capability of succeeding. If they fail, then that is most likely an indication of a lack of effort. Certainly the school should investigate the situation before pulling it to make sure there wasn't some unusual circumstance involved.
In athletics the same principle applies, but there are more complication factors. If a player simply doesn't try, he should be treated like the person failing academically, and have the scholarship pulled. But, let's look at a couple other situations, situations that are different than you are likely to run into with an academic scholarship:
1. Suppose you have a coach running a triple option offense, and a new coach is hired, and he wants to run a spread. Is it OK for him to pull the scholarships on the run-blocking linemen, and the fullbacks, when the players themselves did nothing wrong?
2. Suppose a player is hurt in practice, and he attempts to rehab it, but it continues to nag at him, and regardless of his efforts at rehabilitation, he is never able to contribute. Should he lose his scholarship?
To me, in the end, the primary difference is this - With academic scholarships there are easy ways to measure things, like, say, requiring the maintenance of at least a "B" average. There are also no specific limits on how many academic scholarships can be issued, and therefore no ulterior motives for pulling them. Therefore it all tends to be pretty clean and above-board. The student knows they didn't have a "B" average, and the school does, too. The consequences are expected, and no one is surprised.
By contrast, in an athletic situation, there are finite limits on how many scholarships can be issued. There are no easy, tangible guidelines where a player can know when he is, or isn't meeting the requirements. Thus, the temptation is there for the coach, in some circumstances, to selectively apply rules, and thus more reason to give the transaction some scrutiny.
Thus, a player might be a "B+" player, yet the coach has a verbal from an A+ player, so he looks around and finds someone to pull the scholarship, someone that was trying his best, and playing to the best of his ability, or, perhaps someone with a nagging injury that his hindering his ability to contribute.
Note - I'm not saying that pulling these scholarships is wrong. Perhaps they dislike the coach, and haven't been attending practice, for example. I'm just saying that it is interesting, and perhaps worthy of more scrutiny, considering that 7 is a very high number to pull in a single year.