By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Reporter
The NCAA announced today that it is placing the University of
Southern California on two years’ probation because of three
separate incidents of academic fraud, false and misleading
information, and a lack of institutional monitoring.
The USC football team will lose two scholarships and the
women’s swimming and diving team will lose half a scholarship
for the 2002-2003 seasons. The probation covers the entire USC
athletic program and not just the teams in which infractions
occurred.
“The academic fraud violations included three separate
instances over a two-year period from the summer of 1996 to the
spring of 1998,” reads the report of the NCAA Division I
Committee on Infractions. “During that period of time,
employees of the university’s Student Athlete Academic
Services substantially composed academic papers for three
student-athletes.”
According to the report, the student-athletes proceeded to turn
in the papers as their own work and receive academic credit.
The first such infraction occurred in summer 1996 when a
football student-athlete was assisted by a tutor coordinator for a
paper in his political science class. After turning in the paper,
the student-athlete received an A-minus in the course.
In 1997, an effort by a women’s diving student-athlete to
submit a fraudulent rough draft in the tutor’s handwriting
and final draft in her own handwriting was detected by the
professor, who awarded her an F in the class.
Another paper-writing incident occurred in 1998, when a football
student-athlete submitted a fraudulent paper for a religion
class.
“In all three cases, the tutor coordinator or tutors
provided false and misleading information to the university or was
unwilling to be interviewed,” reads the report. “The
committee also found that the institution failed to properly
monitor the administration of the institution’s SAAS
program.”
Jack Friedenthal, chair of the Committee on Infractions said USC
took actions when the incidents occurred, but the committee deemed
them inadequate. USC’s corrective actions included
termination of two tutors involved in the incidents and a revision
of the student-athlete handbook that addressed academic
integrity.
“The steps they took were important steps and USC deserves
credit for being diligent,” Friedenthal said in a conference
call. “But they didn’t take many steps in terms of what
might be said to be punitive actions against themselves in terms of
scholarships.”
The committee declared that the university failed to take a
number of actions, which ranged from following its own policy and
procedures relating to academic tutorial assistance to
student-athletes to adequate monitoring and oversight to ensure
compliance with NCAA and SAAS rules.
USC president Steven Sample, athletic director Mike Garrett,
football coach Pete Carroll, and women’s swimming and diving
coach Mark Schubert were unable to be reached for comment. However,
executive vice provost Mike Diamond released a statement on behalf
of the university.
“We self-reported these incidents to the Pac-10 and the
NCAA after conduction an extensive review of SAAS,” read the
statement.” Today’s announcement by the NCAA of limited
probation and limited reduction in scholarships brings closure to
this unfortunate episode.”
Although the probation has no effect on USC postseason football
bowl game participation, the entire athletic program is now subject
to the NCAA’s repeat violator provisions for a five-year
period beginning today.