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FSU's Academic Scandal Is Not Limited To Football

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By SCOTT CARTER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 21, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Florida State's football team is under the media spotlight for having up to 25 players suspended for the Music City Bowl, but FSU officials confirmed Thursday that at least 50 FSU athletes across multiple sports eventually will face penalties for their involvement in an academic misconduct scandal within the athletic department.

FSU's internal investigation, chaired by Provost Larry Abele, is expected to be shipped to the NCAA next month. As part of the probe, every athlete who took a music appreciation course at the center of the scandal has been interviewed multiple times to see if they cheated by accepting online test answers from tutors.

FSU football coach Bobby Bowden said Thursday that he is upset his players are involved, but added that he believes they are being unfairly blamed for a university issue.

"It disappoints you," Bowden said. "They don't write about them other students. There are more than just football players."

The investigation turned up many flaws within the athletic department's academic support program. Interim athletic director Bill Proctor is heading a study to strengthen the system and to avoid a similar situation in the future.

"Of course, if a tutor wants to help a student in a dishonest way, unless you are standing right there, you can't prevent that," Proctor said. "What you hope is that the student, after this experience, knows they better get out of there or go report it to somebody. I think what we have to recognize, from the standpoint of a academic support system, the most vulnerable link is the tutor-student link, and that's the one we've got to monitor with the most intensity."

The school is not releasing the names of the athletes involved, citing federal privacy laws.

However, a list of the football team's Music City Bowl traveling squad is expected to be released possibly as early as today, which will reveal what players are not playing in the game on New Year's Eve against Kentucky.

As for other sports impacted, the women's basketball team is currently without two players, Tanae Davis-Cain and Angel Gray, for a "violation of team standards." Another player, sophomore Alysha Harvin, returned Sunday from a nine-game suspension for "violation of team standards." The length of the suspensions correlate with the punishment athletes are expected to receive (30 percent of their sport's season) if they are discovered to have cheated.

Reporter Scott Carter can be reached at (850) 294-3088 or scarter@tampatrib.com.

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