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Documents on FSU's appeal to the NCAA to be released

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The dispute is over a response the NCAA gave Florida State on its appeal of sanctions resulting from an academic cheating scandal.

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By ADAM EMERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 16, 2009

The NCAA won't stop Florida State University from releasing correspondence about an academic cheating scandal at the school, but news organizations who sued for the documents won't get them right away.

Media outlets wanted the NCAA's response to FSU's appeal of sanctions resulting from the scandal, but the NCAA will only give the university access to it on a read-only computer program.

FSU can't print the document, so to disclose it, the university will have to transcribe it. Attorneys later will redact private student information.

Earlier this spring, the university appealed the NCAA's decision to strip FSU of wins in 10 sports, including football. An investigation had unearthed widespread cheating among 61 student-athletes in an online music course.

The sanctions would particularly hurt football coach Bobby Bowden's bid to become college football's all-time winningest coach.

The news organizations, including The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8 asked for the response, but FSU said it couldn't provide a copy. Media outlets then filed suit in Leon County Circuit Court claiming the university and the NCAA schemed to violate open government laws by withholding the correspondence.

The scheme "is particularly insidious to Florida's constitutional and statutory guarantee of access to public records," according to the lawsuit.

Last week, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum weighed in, telling the NCAA it must provide copies of the correspondence, even if it just allowed FSU to view the response.

In her letter today to FSU, NCAA assistant general counsel Naima Stevenson said her organization "is not subject to Florida's public records laws, and is not a custodian of FSU's public records."

But as long as the university complies with privacy laws, it can release the letter's contents, Stevenson said.

The argument won't stop there, though. The news organizations still want a hearing to determine whether the response was unlawfully withheld, said Rachel Fugate, an attorney for the media outlets.

The NCAA also had placed FSU on four years' probation, but the university didn't challenge that sanction.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285.

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