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For Immediate Release

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Contact(s)

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

INDIANAPOLIS--- East Carolina University committed unethical conduct violations involving academic fraud by four baseball student-athletes and a women’s tennis student-athlete, according to findings by the Division I Committee on Infractions. Two of the baseball student-athletes also violated ethical conduct rules when they provided false and misleading information to the school regarding their involvement.

Each of the involved student-athletes, including the women’s tennis student-athlete who the university employed as a tutor, represented the university in competition while ineligible. Penalties in this case include probation and a vacation of records, among others.

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.

While working as academic tutor in the athletics department, the involved women’s tennis student-athlete wrote papers for the four baseball student-athletes, who submitted the work as their own. This academic fraud included writing a paper for two of the student-athletes, eight papers for another and five papers plus a PowerPoint presentation for a fourth student-athlete.

In addition, two of the baseball student-athletes provided false and misleading information to the university during three separate interviews. In both cases, these student-athletes did not acknowledge their involvement in academic fraud until they were interviewed by the NCAA enforcement staff.

The committee noted that while this case was unique in that it involved unethical conduct charges for five individuals without any additional institutional allegations, the university bears responsibility for the actions of its employed tutor.

The penalties in this case are as follows:

• Public reprimand and censure.
• One year of probation from May 19, 2011, through May 18, 2012.
• Two student-athletes were ruled ineligible for competition for the remainder of the 2009-10 baseball season and the entire 2010-11 season.
• The three remaining involved student-athletes were ruled permanently ineligible and removed from the baseball and women’s tennis teams.
• Vacation of all wins in which the four baseball student-athletes competed during the 2009-10 season and women’s tennis student-athlete competed during the spring 2010 season.

The members of the Division I Committee on Infractions who reviewed this case include Dennis Thomas, the commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and chair of the Committee on Infractions. Other members are Roscoe C. Howard, Jr., attorney; John Black, attorney; Greg Sankey, associate commissioner of compliance for the Southeastern Conference; Eleanor Myers, faculty athletics representative and law professor at Temple University; Melissa Conboy, deputy director of athletics at University of Notre Dame; and James O'Fallon, law professor and faculty athletics representative for University of Oregon.