Over the past several months, Florida State University has been preparing to face the music in its latest athletic scandal. Now that the NCAA has made its ruling, FSU officials don’t seem to appreciate the tune. However, there is little doubt that many FSU athletes, with the proper academic counseling, could name that tune, although it might take more than three notes.

In late March of 2007, the story of academic fraud involving athletes and the Department of Athletic Academic Support Services (AASS) began to surface. The initial alarm came when a student athlete came forward and admitted that at the direction of a learning specialist in AASS, he took an online quiz for another athlete, and the learning specialist provided the answers to the quiz.

From here, the information moved up the chain of command on the academic side of the university, over to the athletic side of the university, up to the athletic director, and finally to the president’s office. As FSU’s internal investigation proceeded, it became apparent that this was not an isolated case. Many athletes had been provided answers to quizzes. Some had papers written for them in the online course, “Music of World Cultures.”

By mid-summer, 23 athletes with eligibility remaining were caught up in the fraud, and it was determined that each of them should lose 30 percent of their remaining athletic eligibility. At the end of 2007, the athletic director’s contract was not renewed, and three of his assistants had resigned. Several tutors and employees of AASS were also gone.

In February of 2008, FSU sent its investigative report to the NCAA, noting that FSU had taken putative actions on the case, placed the athletic department on two years probation, and reduced some scholarships in several sports. At this point, the NCAA took up the investigation.

Two weeks ago, the NCAA announced its findings: An academic advisor, a learning specialist, and a tutor had, over the course of three years, advised 61 athletes — 25 of them football players — to cheat in an online course. FSU will lose six scholarships in football over a three-year period, and the athletic program has been put on four years probation.

The university must now determine how many of the offending athletes in several sports participated in competition. When that is determined, any victories won will be vacated.

When you look at these penalties, they are remarkably mild. There is no loss of TV revenue, no loss of post-season competition. The loss of scholarships is minimal. This is a case that the NCAA termed “egregious,” “extremely serious,” and “intentional.” The violations were characterized as “widespread academic fraud perpetuated purposefully” by three AASS staff members.

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