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Division I Committee on Infractions Issues Decision on Princeton University


Embargoed Until

3 p.m. Eastern Time, Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Contact(s)

Stacey Osburn
Associate Director of Public and Media Relations
317/917-6117


INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions has penalized Princeton University for a major violation in its women’s tennis program. This case was narrow in scope and centered on a booster who paid impermissible educational expenses for a student-athlete to attend the university.

Because of the limited nature of the case, combined with the university’s efforts to uncover and report the violation, the committee imposed only minimal penalties, including a vacation of records.

During the 2007-08 academic year and 2008 fall semester, a booster provided approximately $33,000 in educational expenses for a women’s tennis student-athlete to attend the university.

The relationship between the student-athlete and booster originated at a local tennis club near their respective homes where a local club’s tennis professional introduced them prior to the student-athlete’s ninth-grade year. The relationship developed based on a mutual interest in the sport of tennis and the student-athlete’s athletic abilities.

When finding the violation, the committee noted the significant value of the extra benefit, as well as the competitive advantage it provided by allowing the student-athlete to attend and participate on the team.

The penalties are set forth below. Additional details are available in the public report.

  • Public reprimand and censure.
  • Vacation of the student-athlete’s individual records for when she competed during the 2007-08 academic year through the fall semester of the 2008-09 academic year.  Under NCAA rules, she was ineligible during that time period due to the receipt of the impermissible extra benefit from the booster. 

The members of the Committee on Infractions who reviewed this case include Paul Dee, lecturer of law and education at the University of Miami and formerly the institution's athletics director and general counsel. He is the chair of the Committee on Infractions. Other members are Josephine (Jo) R. Potuto, the Richard H. Larson Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Nebraska College of Law; Melissa Conboy, deputy director of athletics at University of Notre Dame; James O’Fallon, a law professor and faculty athletic representative for University of Oregon; John S. Black, attorney; and Roscoe Howard, Jr., attorney.