Colleges

FSU disciplines itself for cheating

The school cuts scholarships amid an academic scandal. The NCAA may impose more penalties.

By Brian Landman, Times Staff Writer
Published February 15, 2008

Coach Bobby Bowden recently said that about a dozen of his players will be suspended for an additional three games at the start of the 2008 season.
	[Getty Images]

ADVERTISEMENT FSU rules violations See the full report (PDF) [Steve Bousquet | Times] FSU also imposed two years of probation on itself, but the NCAA could impose additional penalties after conducting its own investigation. "They have to (investigate). That's the way their organization handles these matters," said FSU president T.K. Wetherell. "They'll come in and ask for everything."

Florida State will reduce the number of scholarships in several sports as part of self-imposed sanctions for an embarrassing academic misconduct scandal involving about 60 athletes.

In a 30-page report to the NCAA, which was "modified in order to be released to the public" on Thursday morning, FSU did not identify which teams were involved or how many scholarships a team will lose. But the university has confirmed that the football team was one of the offenders.

In December, the team left 36 players listed in the Music City Bowl media guide off its travel roster for various, unspecified reasons, including the scandal. Coach Bobby Bowden recently said that about a dozen of his players will be suspended for an additional three games at the start of the 2008 season. The NCAA agreed that FSU could reinstate players after they missed four games, which is the equivalent of 30 percent of the football season.

FSU also imposed two years of probation on itself, but its report to the NCAA did not mention any ban on post-season playoff or bowl games. The NCAA could impose additional penalties after conducting its own investigation.

"They have to (investigate). That's the way their organization handles these matters," FSU president T.K. Wetherell told the Tallahassee Democrat on Thursday. "They'll come in and ask for everything."

School officials didn't respond to calls on Thursday from the St. Petersburg Times seeking answers to myriad questions about the case. For months, FSU's general counsel has denied numerous requests for public records, citing student privacy rights.

But the school has said that the misconduct primarily involved two former members of its athletic academic support staff who gave answers to tests for an online music course to student-athletes over a three-semester period.

"We believe that our investigation has been thorough and exhaustive," FSU provost Larry Abele, who chaired the school's investigative committee, said in a statement.

The NCAA, which has been in regular contact with FSU throughout the investigation, does not publicly comment on current, pending or potential investigations, a spokeswoman said.

FSU worked on its investigation in concert with ACC and NCAA officials, but also hired an outside consulting firm, the Compliance Group, led by a former member of the NCAA enforcement staff, Chuck Smrt. As of Monday, records show that FSU had paid Smrt's group $121,537.17 - all from booster funds.

The school admitted that Brenda Monk, a learning specialist-assistant director in Athletic Academic Support Services named by the Times in September as a central figure in the scandal but acknowledged by the school for the first time in this report, and a tutor improperly helped student-athletes, typing papers and providing answers to online tests.

Monk resigned effective July 5 and signed a separation agreement with the school, guaranteeing her $5,364 and her full and truthful cooperation with any investigation authorized by the school. She did not return a call from the Times on Thursday.

The tutor, unnamed in the report because he was a graduate student, told investigators that when he saw Monk giving answers to athletes in the online course he began to do the same. Wetherell has called him a "rogue tutor."

The tutor said some academic support employees knew what was going on, and he was encouraged to give out answers. He was interviewed by school or NCAA officials three times, including last month. He didn't identify other academic advisers and said the school is on a "witch hunt." He resigned in the summer.

FSU acknowledged a "failure to adequately monitor" the actions of Monk and the tutor and the music course in general.

Mark Meleney, the longtime director of Athletic Academic Support Services, did not "adequately review" information reported to him by at least two of his staff members that Monk was typing papers, the report said.

Meleney, who has worked at FSU for more than 21 years and had ratings of "excellent" on his six most recent performance evaluations, was told on Jan. 8 that the university was canceling his contract "without cause." He would stay employed until July 8 unless he left of his own accord. Bill Shults, who was hired to replace Meleney, has worked in compliance at FSU, Connecticut and Florida International. Meleney did not return a call from the Times.

FSU's investigation also said that the academic advisers "encouraged several student-athletes enrolled in the course to utilize a certain tutor for the course" and contrary to the office's policy, "encouraged or arranged for the tutor to be present when several student-athletes took an on-line exam."

FSU said it believes that members of the academic support office "reasonably should have known of this assistance based upon the information that was available."

The academic support office has seen massive turnover in the wake of the scandal. FSU said in its report that it will or has made changes at five "senior-staff levels" in the athletic department area and within the academic support area, which includes Meleney.

Wrote Abele: "This university and its athletics department have accepted responsibility, made changes in the processes and systems and imposed penalties as warranted."

Change in works

Corrective actions taken or planned by Florida State as a result of the academic scandal:

- Changing the format and structure of online courses

- Requiring that online exams be taken with a proctor present

- Changing the structure and procedures of the Athletic Academic Support Services unit

- Reviewing and modifying the school's system for monitoring athletes' academic work

- Making changes at the senior staff level in the athletic department and Athletic Academic Support Services unit

- Placing the athletic department on probation for two years

- Reducing athletic scholarships in sports with athletes involved

- Requiring athletic department staffers to attend a four-hour training program on NCAA compliance

[Last modified February 15, 2008, 00:25:53]