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FSU Releases Response To NCAA's Notice Of Allegations

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By STEVE ELLIS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 13, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - Florida State will enter its Oct. 18 hearing before the NCAA Committee on Infractions with two key allegations to address from the academic-misconduct case that involved 61 student-athletes and an online music course.

One is how the NCAA will react to FSU's admission that it violated a bylaw that pertains to the "failure to monitor." Another alleges that a former academic advisor instructed a tutor to provide answers to athletes for an online quiz.

The university released its 80-page response Friday to the NCAA's notice of allegations. In it, FSU officials re-confirmed the acknowledgement of violations involving former learning instructor Brenda Monk and a former tutor. Those violations included providing answers to student-athletes and giving improper assistance for online tests.

FSU acknowledged violating six NCAA bylaws - four relating to extra benefits and one pertaining to unethical conduct. FSU also admitted to violating NCAA bylaw 2.81, which deals with the failure to monitor and is tied to institutional control. It is considered a key element to the NCAA's process in determining possible sanctions.

The university did not agree with the NCAA's allegation that former academic advisor Hillard Goldsmith instructed the tutor to supply answers to the online quiz.

"The institution believes insufficient information exists to determine that Goldsmith instructed the tutor to provide answers," wrote the authors of FSU's response. "The tutor is the only individual who reported information that indicated that Goldsmith told him to provide the answers."

While the self-report delivered in February to the NCAA did not mention Goldsmith by name, FSU spokesperson Frank Murphy said the university did report his possible involvement in the case to the NCAA at that time. Hence, FSU president T.K. Wetherell's statement that the allegations revealed in the NCAA's notice of allegations - also released on Friday - were not new.

Goldsmith, no longer an FSU employee, has not talked to NCAA investigators about the case.

"We are pleased that the NCAA found no new allegations after completing its on-campus investigation," Wetherell said in a statement released by the university. "We believe that ours was a thorough and exhaustive inquiry, including extensive examinations of our computer records and files to search for any evidence of impropriety regarding NCAA or university rules."

The documents provided some other revelations.

FSU, which placed itself on two years of probation in February, has imposed scholarship reductions in the 10 sports involved. The university has recommended to the NCAA that it will reduce its scholarships in the football program by a total of five over two academic years.

Though the NCAA can impose its own sanctions, FSU's recommendations for scholarship reductions for the involved sports are: men's basketball (one); women's basketball (one); football (five - two during the 2008-09 academic year and three during the 2009-10 academic year); baseball (0.07 scholarship); men's golf (0.14); men's swimming (0.3); women's swimming (0.92); men's track & field (0.45); women's track & field (0.65); and softball (0.65).

Of the sports involved, all but football and men's and women's basketball provide partial scholarships.

FSU, in response to the NCAA's requests, also listed the student-athletes by sport in the academic-fraud case. The list follows: baseball (one), football (25), men's golf (one), softball (four), men's swimming (three), women's swimming (seven), men's track and field (seven), women's track and field (nine), men's basketball (one) and women's basketball (three).

FSU reiterated in its response that most of the 61 student-athletes were tied to online tests involving a course in which the "academic integrity had been compromised" during the 2006 fall semester and through the spring and summer semesters of 2007. The test questions for those three semesters remained unchanged, and according to the response, FSU later found that a part-time tutor had memorized the questions and answers and in turn provided impermissible "assistance" to the student-athletes.

An investigation was initiated in late spring of 2007 by FSU's Office of Audit services and according to the university's latest response to the NCAA, student-athletes' misconduct ranged from receiving one or two answers for a single test to receiving numerous answers on more than one test.

All student-athletes still enrolled at FSU who took the courses during the three semesters investigated were required to retake the course.

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