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Division III Committee On Infractions Issues Decision On Chatham UniversityFor Immediate Release
Friday, July 30, 2010
Contact(s)
Stacey Osburn
Associate Director of Public and Media Relations
317/917-6117
INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Division III Committee on Infractions has penalized Chatham University for violations of financial aid rules.
Penalties in this case include two years probation and a postseason ban.
This case was resolved through the summary disposition process, a cooperative effort where the involved parties submit the case to the Committee on Infractions in written form. When the NCAA enforcement staff, the university and involved individuals agree to the facts of the case and penalties proposed by the university, they may use this process instead of a formal hearing.
During the 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years, the university awarded financial aid packages to student-athletes in a pattern clearly distinguishable from the general pattern of all financial aid for the general student body. Specifically, over 89 percent of Canadian student discounts, which were designed to increase the number of international students on campus by bringing their tuition down to the same level as that paid by American students, were awarded to student-athletes during the two academic years cited. In the 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years, eight of the nine Canadian student discounts were given to student-athletes.
The university awarded the majority of the discounts to women’s hockey student-athletes. Although there was no indication that the university’s department of athletics or administration intended to circumvent NCAA rules, the institution nonetheless enjoyed a substantial competitive advantage as a result of the way the discounts were awarded.
The penalties in this case are as follows:
- Public reprimand and censure.
- Two years of probation from July 30, 2010, through July 29, 2012
- A postseason ban, effective immediately, for any teams whose rosters include one or more student-athletes receiving the Canadian student discount whose performance affects playoff eligibility seeding.
The members of the Committee on Infractions who reviewed this case include Mary Jo Gunning, committee chair and athletics director at Marywood University; Keith Jacques, attorney at Smith Elliott Smith & Garmey; Dave Cecil director of financial aid at Transylvania University and Stuart Robinson athletics director at State University College at New Paltz.
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