FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY TO APPEAL THE NCAAšS PENALTY REQUIRING VACATING OF WINS
Education Desk
March 17, 2009
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida State University President T.K. Wetherell said today that although the university holds itself accountable and accepts nearly all of the penalties recently issued by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, it will appeal a ruling that would invalidate wins in 10 separate sports.
"Florida State University has the highest regard for maintaining academic integrity," Wetherell said. "We hold ourselves accountable and accept and are implementing nearly all of the penalties imposed by the NCAA Committee on Infractions, as well as the penalties we had imposed upon ourselves.
"However, Florida State University believes the penalty requiring the university to vacate wins is excessive and inappropriate and we will appeal it. In light of the extraordinary -- if not unique -- efforts made in our investigation, we think this additional penalty is unwarranted," he said.
"Florida State University not only cooperated fully with the NCAA but also formed a "partnership" with its representatives in devising a strategy for developing an agreed-upon process for this case," Wetherell said. "This ´strategic partnership´ included reaching an understanding with the NCAA regarding the eligibility of student-athletes who cooperated with the investigation and, in the process, gave up some of their own appeal rights.
"Clearly, eligibility was the lever to uncover the full extent of any academic misconduct," he said. "This strategy and the exceptional investigating measures we employed in order to reveal all impropriety involved an understanding with the NCAA that student-athletes who cooperated in the investigation would know where they stood with regard to eligibility -- and so would Florida State University.
Wetherell said the understanding gave the university assurance that at any point in the athletic season, for any of its teams, the university and its coaches were allowing only eligible student-athletes to compete.
"Therefore, Florida State University does not believe that any of its student-athletes competed while ineligible," he said. "And the university should not be subject to the additional blanket penalty that would vacate records."
Wetherell added that under that penalty, the records of 525 student-athletes and 52 coaches who had nothing to do with the academic misconduct would be vacated.
"The violations occurred in the academic-advising sector of the university and not in the coaching sector," he said. "No senior administrator, coach or coaching staff was involved. Academics and Athletics are separate by design at Florida State University -- a system the NCAA has lauded in its reviews of our program.
"In fact, Florida State University´s deans and Provost asked our coaches to help resolve this issue, and they took an active role in encouraging any involved student-athletes to come forward and do the right thing. They and the student-athletes not involved shouldn´t be punished for the mistakes and misconduct of a minority of student-athletes who admitted to varying degrees of academic misconduct in one course offered over three semesters two years ago.
"NCAA President Myles Brand has said that ´the democratic process through representative governance determines what decisions will be made (by the association. And the driving force -- the agents of change -- in this process are the college and university presidents,´" Wetherell said.
"In keeping with that, we believe that the criteria for imposing a blanket penalty that vacates records should be established by the NCAA and its full membership, not by a committee using a seemingly ever changing and nebulous set of criteria.
"To that end, I have written a letter to President Brand, asking that the NCAA establish a blue ribbon committee composed of university and college presidents, athletic directors, coaches, faculty representatives, staff and student-athletes, as well as NCAA staff attorneys, to consider in a public forum the policy of vacating wins. These hearings should be conducted in a manner that represents the spirit of the NCAA as a collegiate cooperative and a membership-driven organization.
Wetherell also expressed concern that the NCAA appears to have given little consideration to the university´s actions in voiding all grades given to student-athletes who took the online course over three semesters in 2006 and 2007 and also voiding the course itself. "For the university to completely void a course is unprecedented," he said.
Wetherell said his administration took action at the first hint of impropriety.
"Florida State University was committed to an extensive and thorough investigation," he said. "Our administration worked closely with the NCAA. Our innovative strategies in this exhaustive inquiry included extensive examination and cross-examination of computer records and files to search for any evidence of impropriety regarding NCAA or university rules."
Ultimately, the NCAA´s on-campus investigation revealed no additional institutional findings beyond what the university had discovered. The NCAA also did not find a lack of institutional control, and it found that no coaching staff members or top-level administrators were involved in any impropriety.
"The vacating-of-wins penalty is inconsistent with that finding," Wetherell said.
Florida State University will send its notice of appeal to the NCAA by the March 21, 2009, deadline. Once the NCAA acknowledges receipt of the notice of appeal, the university has 30 days to file its written appeal.
Florida State University has hired attorney William (Bill) E. Williams to represent the university in its appeal. Williams is a former administrative law judge, now with the Tallahassee law firm of Gray|Robinson.
In addition to the sanction vacating wins and the university´s self-imposed sanctions, the NCAA added one year of probation (four years total) for the 10 sports involved and an additional or a partial scholarship reduction in several sports.
The NCAA penalties were imposed for violations that occurred in connection with a single online course offered in the fall semester of 2006 and the spring and summer semesters of 2007.
In its 2008 report to the NCAA, the university announced that it had taken corrective and punitive actions that include:
1. Requiring all student-athletes with remaining eligibility (regardless of the grade received) who were enrolled in the course during the three semesters in question to retake the course for a new grade;
2. Instituting significant changes in the format and structure of certain online courses; (Note: The university president taught an online undergraduate course to review personally the revised online process in an actual class setting.)
3. Implementing significant changes in the structure and processes of the Athletics Academic Support Services (AASS) unit;
4. Contracting with an outside consultant to conduct a review of the AASS unit;
5. Reviewing all online courses and requiring that all exams be taken in a proctor setting;
6. Examining and modifying the institution´s systems for monitoring academic course work taken by student-athletes;
7. Making (and continuing to make) personnel changes within the Athletics Department;
8. Imposing grant cuts in 10 sports, and
9. Reallocating funds from the Athletics Department to the AASS Unit.
"Florida State University has the highest regard for maintaining academic integrity," Wetherell said. "We hold ourselves accountable and accept and are implementing nearly all of the penalties imposed by the NCAA Committee on Infractions, as well as the penalties we had imposed upon ourselves.
"However, Florida State University believes the penalty requiring the university to vacate wins is excessive and inappropriate and we will appeal it. In light of the extraordinary -- if not unique -- efforts made in our investigation, we think this additional penalty is unwarranted," he said.
"Florida State University not only cooperated fully with the NCAA but also formed a "partnership" with its representatives in devising a strategy for developing an agreed-upon process for this case," Wetherell said. "This ´strategic partnership´ included reaching an understanding with the NCAA regarding the eligibility of student-athletes who cooperated with the investigation and, in the process, gave up some of their own appeal rights.
"Clearly, eligibility was the lever to uncover the full extent of any academic misconduct," he said. "This strategy and the exceptional investigating measures we employed in order to reveal all impropriety involved an understanding with the NCAA that student-athletes who cooperated in the investigation would know where they stood with regard to eligibility -- and so would Florida State University.
Wetherell said the understanding gave the university assurance that at any point in the athletic season, for any of its teams, the university and its coaches were allowing only eligible student-athletes to compete.
"Therefore, Florida State University does not believe that any of its student-athletes competed while ineligible," he said. "And the university should not be subject to the additional blanket penalty that would vacate records."
Wetherell added that under that penalty, the records of 525 student-athletes and 52 coaches who had nothing to do with the academic misconduct would be vacated.
"The violations occurred in the academic-advising sector of the university and not in the coaching sector," he said. "No senior administrator, coach or coaching staff was involved. Academics and Athletics are separate by design at Florida State University -- a system the NCAA has lauded in its reviews of our program.
"In fact, Florida State University´s deans and Provost asked our coaches to help resolve this issue, and they took an active role in encouraging any involved student-athletes to come forward and do the right thing. They and the student-athletes not involved shouldn´t be punished for the mistakes and misconduct of a minority of student-athletes who admitted to varying degrees of academic misconduct in one course offered over three semesters two years ago.
"NCAA President Myles Brand has said that ´the democratic process through representative governance determines what decisions will be made (by the association. And the driving force -- the agents of change -- in this process are the college and university presidents,´" Wetherell said.
"In keeping with that, we believe that the criteria for imposing a blanket penalty that vacates records should be established by the NCAA and its full membership, not by a committee using a seemingly ever changing and nebulous set of criteria.
"To that end, I have written a letter to President Brand, asking that the NCAA establish a blue ribbon committee composed of university and college presidents, athletic directors, coaches, faculty representatives, staff and student-athletes, as well as NCAA staff attorneys, to consider in a public forum the policy of vacating wins. These hearings should be conducted in a manner that represents the spirit of the NCAA as a collegiate cooperative and a membership-driven organization.
Wetherell also expressed concern that the NCAA appears to have given little consideration to the university´s actions in voiding all grades given to student-athletes who took the online course over three semesters in 2006 and 2007 and also voiding the course itself. "For the university to completely void a course is unprecedented," he said.
Wetherell said his administration took action at the first hint of impropriety.
"Florida State University was committed to an extensive and thorough investigation," he said. "Our administration worked closely with the NCAA. Our innovative strategies in this exhaustive inquiry included extensive examination and cross-examination of computer records and files to search for any evidence of impropriety regarding NCAA or university rules."
Ultimately, the NCAA´s on-campus investigation revealed no additional institutional findings beyond what the university had discovered. The NCAA also did not find a lack of institutional control, and it found that no coaching staff members or top-level administrators were involved in any impropriety.
"The vacating-of-wins penalty is inconsistent with that finding," Wetherell said.
Florida State University will send its notice of appeal to the NCAA by the March 21, 2009, deadline. Once the NCAA acknowledges receipt of the notice of appeal, the university has 30 days to file its written appeal.
Florida State University has hired attorney William (Bill) E. Williams to represent the university in its appeal. Williams is a former administrative law judge, now with the Tallahassee law firm of Gray|Robinson.
In addition to the sanction vacating wins and the university´s self-imposed sanctions, the NCAA added one year of probation (four years total) for the 10 sports involved and an additional or a partial scholarship reduction in several sports.
The NCAA penalties were imposed for violations that occurred in connection with a single online course offered in the fall semester of 2006 and the spring and summer semesters of 2007.
In its 2008 report to the NCAA, the university announced that it had taken corrective and punitive actions that include:
1. Requiring all student-athletes with remaining eligibility (regardless of the grade received) who were enrolled in the course during the three semesters in question to retake the course for a new grade;
2. Instituting significant changes in the format and structure of certain online courses; (Note: The university president taught an online undergraduate course to review personally the revised online process in an actual class setting.)
3. Implementing significant changes in the structure and processes of the Athletics Academic Support Services (AASS) unit;
4. Contracting with an outside consultant to conduct a review of the AASS unit;
5. Reviewing all online courses and requiring that all exams be taken in a proctor setting;
6. Examining and modifying the institution´s systems for monitoring academic course work taken by student-athletes;
7. Making (and continuing to make) personnel changes within the Athletics Department;
8. Imposing grant cuts in 10 sports, and
9. Reallocating funds from the Athletics Department to the AASS Unit.
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