Report finds academic integrity in athletics sound
COLUMBUS – A committee appointed by Ohio State President Karen A. Holbrook to investigate allegations of academic improprieties in the university’s athletics program has found no breaches of institutional integrity after five months of study.
The President’s Special Investigation Committee was formed following a New York Times article last July. In a 30-page report delivered to Holbrook earlier this week, the committee concludes that there is no evidence to support allegations that tutors or academic counselors in the university’s Student Athlete Support Services Office (SASSO) offered inappropriate tutorial assistance.
Further, through its extensive interviews, site visits and evidence analysis, the committee found the university’s system for finding and correcting incidents of academic misconduct is sound. The committee interviewed more than 60 people, including academic administrators, professors, tutors, academic counselors, student-athletes and other students.
The committee also investigated allegations in the article that some football players had received special treatment or committed academic misconduct in a course. Chris Vance, a football player mentioned in the Times, has waived his rights in this situation under the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
Therefore, the university may disclose the fact that the committee found he did not commit academic misconduct, nor did he receive special treatment, in Professor Paulette Pierce’s African American and African Studies 101 course.
FERPA prohibits the university from disclosing any parts of the report specifically relating to individual students, unless the students involved waive their rights to disclosure. As of this afternoon, no other students have granted the university permission to disclose their educational records as reflected in the report.
In accepting the committee’s report, Holbrook said she believes the investigation was thorough and verifies that the university’s core value of academic integrity remains intact. “I am happy with the diligence of the committee’s work and pleased to learn we have no systemic problems in the way we work with our student-athletes. At the same time, whenever you conduct a thorough investigation of your processes, you can always find ways to do something better. We did in this case as well,” she said.
Holbrook said the committee made several recommendations in the report to improve SASSO, including reducing caseloads for counselors working with students having significant academic difficulties, increasing staff diversity, and examining SASSO’s current joint oversight by the Department of Athletics and the Office of Academic Affairs. The report also suggested the university develop a means of uniformly educating faculty and staff about federal student privacy regulations and ensuring they are followed.
A member of the NCAA Enforcement Division staff participated in many of the committee’s interviews and conferred with university representatives throughout the process. The NCAA Enforcement Staff has reviewed the report and has indicated that it does not contemplate taking any action with respect to the matters investigated.
The NCAA recently recertified the university’s athletics program following an extensive self-study and a visit from a peer review team made up of representatives from other colleges, universities and conference offices. The recertification indicates that the program operates “in substantial conformity with principles adopted by the association’s Division I membership.”
The members of the committee Holbrook appointed are distinguished faculty and administrators from within the university who are well known for their integrity and understanding of undergraduate education and are not associated with athletics. The committee’s chair was Matthew Platz, distinguished university professor in the
Department of Chemistry. Stanley O. Ikenberry, former president of the American Council on Education and former president of the University of Illinois, served as a consultant to the committee.
The committee believes that its work confirms that the university takes seriously its commitment to the education of all students, including student-athletes, the report says in its conclusion. “An essential element of this commitment is the exercise of faculty discretion to use accommodations where appropriate to best satisfy the commitment to educating its students. The committee is confident that the university will properly consider its recommendations in the spirit of furthering the institution’s educational mission,” the report states.
The university also hired Michael S. Glazier of Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC, in Kansas City as special counsel to the committee. Glazier has extensive experience in NCAA compliance and infractions matters, including issues of student-athlete academic integrity.
Other members of the committee were Gwendolyn Cartledge, professor, school of Physical Activity and Educational Services; Jane D. Case-Smith, professor, School of Allied Medical Professions; Richard M. Hill, emeritus dean and professor, College of Optometry; Brian D. Joseph, distinguished university professor, Department of Linguistics; Larry M. Lewellen, associate vice president for human resources; Stephen C. Myers, chair and professor, Department of Horticulture and Crop Science; john a. powell, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity director and the Gregory H. Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Moritz College of Law; and Sharon A. West, associate professor, School of Journalism and Communications.
Editors Note: Remarks by President Holbrook, Professor Platz and Interim Provost Synder follow.
President Karen Holbrook
Remarks
The President’s Special Investigation Committee
12/17/03
Good afternoon. Last July, Interim Provost Barbara Snyder and I appointed this committee to investigate allegations of preferential treatment of student athletes, to determine whether the university’s Student Athlete Support Services Office, known as SASSO, offered inappropriate tutorial assistance, and to investigate whether there are aspects of the current academic support program for student-athletes that should be reformed or enhanced and, if so, to make recommendations for change. After beginning its investigation, the committee also researched the question of whether inappropriate accommodations were made for student-athletes in General Education Curriculum courses.
As I told you in July, we took the allegations made against the university very seriously, and I assured you that integrity would be the foundation of our investigation. After meeting with the full committee and reading its report, I am convinced that, indeed, the committee acted thoughtfully and responsibly, was thorough in its process and reached some reasoned conclusions after investigating this situation over the last five months.
The most important conclusion, in my mind, is that the university’s academic integrity is sound. The committee found no breaches of institutional integrity, nor evidence to support the allegations that the university’s Student Athlete Support Services Office offered inappropriate tutorial assistance. I am confident that the integrity of the institution and SASSO are unquestionable.
A member of the NCAA Enforcement Division staff participated in many of the committee’s interviews and conferred with university representatives throughout the process. NCAA Enforcement Staff has reviewed the report and has indicated that it does not contemplate taking any action on its own with respect to the matters investigated.
I am very pleased to learn that we have no systemic problems in the way we work with our student-athletes. At the same time, whenever you conduct a thorough investigation of your processes, you can always find ways to do things better. We did in this case as well. The committee has made some thoughtful recommendations; however, rather than moving swiftly, we will take a measured approach and work with our Athletics Council to ensure that we act in a way that is best the student athletes, the University, and, foremost for our athletics program.
I thank the committee, a prestigious group of faculty and staff selected for their integrity and their understanding of undergraduate education, who took on this task in addition to their teaching, administrative and scholarship roles, and conducted a methodical and comprehensive investigation. I’d also like to thank Dr. Stanley Ikenberry, a former president of the University of Illinois and past president of the American Council on Education, for his advice and counsel to the committee.
Finally, I am very pleased to add a word of support for our Athletics Director Andy Geiger. The fact that our academic integrity is intact is testimony to the culture of his department and to the ethics of the people who work to provide academic services to our student-athletes. Thank you, Andy, for creating that culture.
###
Matthew Platz, distinguished university professor, Department of Chemistry
Remarks
The President’s Special Investigation Committee
12/17/03
President Holbrook has outlined her charge to the committee; my role is to tell you how we went about our work. The committee organized and operated by subcommittees to address each substantive issue. We interviewed a wide variety of individuals and reviewed a large number of documents to obtain as broad a spectrum of information as possible. We interviewed more than 60 people, including academic administrators, professors, teaching assistants, tutors, student-athletes and students who are not athletes. The meetings included individuals no longer associated with the university as well as many current employees. We conducted the vast majority of our interviews in person. The subcommittees brought information back to the full committee, which then made the findings and recommendations present in our report.
Our findings are as follows: As Barbara mentioned a few minutes ago, the committee determined that Chris Vance, a football player mentioned in the Times article, did not commit academic misconduct, nor did he receive special treatment, in Professor Paulette Pierce’s African American and African Studies 101 course. I am able to share this information with you because Mr. Vance has signed a waiver allowing the university to release this information from the report.
No evidence supports the allegation of widespread academic misconduct by SASSO tutors and/or academic counselors. None of the current or former SASSO tutors or counselors the committee interviewed knew of any inappropriate assistance to student-athletes by SASSO employees. Furthermore, the current and former counselors and tutors reported no influence from academic administrators regarding "high-profile" student athletes, saying that they have always been encouraged to do their jobs professionally. It is important to note that SASSO staff members are evaluated on their delivery of services to student athletes and not on the grades received by student athletes. In particular no current nor former SASSO employees in memory have been terminated, demoted or had their salaries reduced when "high profile" student athletes experienced academic difficulties and lost eligibility.
At the same time, we recommend that certain aspects of SASSO be strengthened, including reducing caseloads for counselors working with students having significant academic difficulties, increasing staff diversity, and examining SASSO's current joint oversight by the Department of Athletics and the Office of Academic Affairs.
The committee also examined the enrollment of student-athletes in General Education Curriculum courses at the university to determine whether we could find any indicators that athletes were given preferences in grading. We found no such statistical indicators.
We found in interviews with department chairs that departments and colleges have well thought out local policies to handle students experiencing exceptional circumstances. However, the committee recommends that every department review its policies and practices governing accommodations for students in special circumstances and if necessary develop procedures and enact policies to address those issues.
The committee also looked at T.A. training, including the issues of students' privacy rights and course management. We found that while most departmental practices are effective, training across campus is inconsistent in both the manner and depth in which it occurs. We therefore recommend that academic departments review and enhance their current training practices.
More detail on each of these recommendations is present in the report.
The committee is satisfied that it has completed its charge from the President to investigate allegations of impropriety and make findings and recommendations regarding them. The committee would like to commend the university community and public for the full cooperation it received in investigating these allegations and completing this report.
The committee would like to note that through its extensive interviews, site visits and analysis of evidence, it found that the University’s system for finding and correcting incidents of academic misconduct is sound. Although the committee recognizes that cheating does and will occur, it is satisfied that the University has offices and programs in place to satisfactorily address those issues.
The committee believes that its work confirms that the University takes seriously its commitment to the education of all students, including student-athletes. An essential element of this commitment is the exercise of faculty discretion to use accommodations where appropriate to best satisfy the commitment to educating its students. The committee is confident that the University will properly consider its recommendations in the spirit of furthering the institution’s educational mission.
Finally, I want to add my thanks to my colleagues for their work on this committee. They are distinguished scholars in their disciplines and leaders within their colleges and departments. They are individuals without formal ties to athletics and who had and have no vested interest in the outcome of this investigation. I am grateful for their thoughtful and intelligent review of the facts, and for their considered opinions in providing recommendations. Thank you.
###
Barbara Snyder, Interim Executive Vice President and Provost
Remarks
The President’s Special Investigation Committee
12/17/03
REGARDING FERPA
FERPA, the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, is a federal law designed to protect the privacy of students’ educational records. FERPA prohibits the university from disclosing any parts of the report that relate specifically to individual students, unless those students waive their rights and permit disclosure.
One of the student-athletes mentioned in the New York Times story last summer, Chris Vance, has waived his rights under FERPA. Therefore, we can tell you that the committee concluded that he did not commit academic misconduct in Professor Pierce’s African American and African Studies course. As of now, other students have not granted the university permission to disclose their educational records, and the report is appropriately redacted to protect those students’ rights.
University counsel has conferred at some length with a senior official at the Department of Education about the stringency of the constraints imposed on the university by FERPA. Please understand that we cannot disclose in this press conference any information related to specific students beyond what I have just disclosed to you.
Barbara Snyder remarks
And let me also add my thanks to Matt and the rest of the committee for their work in producing this report.
This process has been a very instructive one for the university. As the president said, we believed our processes to be very good, and we are pleased that our confidence in our academic integrity was confirmed by the diligent work of the committee. SASSO has received high marks – not only from this committee, but from the athletics administrators who evaluated the university’s program last year as part of the NCAA Certification process.
Nevertheless, we will review the recommendations the committee has offered and will carefully consider how best to implement them. Of particular interest to us is the need to better educate our faculty and staff about the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act regulations, a process we have already begun. This fall I sent to all faculty and administrators a document called FERPA Basics, developed with our Office of Legal Affairs, intended to better educate them about FERPA in general and to answer some of the most commonly asked questions.
We also plan to discuss the report’s recommendations with the appropriate faculty committees. We will discuss the recommendations related to SASSO with the Academic Progress and Eligibility Committee of the University’s Athletic Council, the Faculty Athletics Representative, and the Office of Academic Affairs Liaison to Athletics. In fact, we already have implemented one of the committee’s recommendations in hiring an additional academic counselor at SASSO.
In conclusion, I also would like to take this opportunity to thank the university community for their full cooperation with the committee. Academic integrity is at the core of what we do, and we are grateful that the university community took this investigation as seriously as this administration did. Thank you.
