There has been considerable media coverage and comments from Florida public officials about the current court case regarding Florida State University, the NCAA and open record laws in the state of Florida.  Unfortunately, many of those media accounts and comments by public officials have been marred with errors and misrepresentations.

Media got it wrong when they stated NCAA attorney Linda Salfrank asserted FSU does not have to be a member of the NCAA if it doesn’t want to follow Association rules.  This was not the language of Ms. Salfrank or any other NCAA official.  Rather, Ms. Salfrank was simply citing a 1988 Supreme Court decision stating the NCAA is a voluntary organization and that its members have options. The full context of this comment, which was not provided in the media, can be found in the hearing transcript on page 167.

Some media even suggested the NCAA was threatening to take due process away from FSU. This, again, is completely off-base. When asked during the hearing what effect the court’s decision could have on FSU, NCAA vice president David Berst responded by supplying a range of hypothetical actions and potential scenarios regarding the impact on the Association’s enforcement process.  Just as importantly, in this context “due process” refers to the NCAA enforcement procedures and not the nation’s judicial system. The NCAA has not and will not ever place itself above the law. The full context of Mr. Berst’s comments – which the media did not provide – can be found in the hearing transcript on pages 118-120.

For an accurate recap of the NCAA’s position on this case, see NCAA President Myles Brand’s letter of August 26, 2009 to FSU President T.K. Wetherell.   The letter clearly lays out why this case is of the utmost importance to the Association and how it conducts its business.