UW-Madison administrators decided correctly to allow a group of football players accused of plagiarism at the end of fall semester to play in the Alamo Bowl Dec. 28, according to a report released Friday by the chancellor's office.
The report does not specify which players were involved in the investigation.
Allegations surfaced Dec. 20 when an instructor and teaching assistant informed the chancellor's office they suspected cheating among several student athletes on a take-home final exam in Social Work 644. After investigating the situation in December, representatives of the chancellor's office and the Athletics Department determined there was no basis to deny eligibility. The report released Friday confirms this decision.
\For it to violate NCAA rules [academic fraud] has to involve the host institution in some way,"" according to David McDonald, special assistant to the chancellor for athletics. ""Somebody on campus, or in the university or in the athletics department has to have actively abetted or has to have taken part in promoting this academic misconduct for it to violate NCAA rules.""
The report by the chancellor's office does not specify whether or not the conduct in question qualifies as academic misconduct, as such a determination is the responsibility of the dean of students office. Furthermore, the report limits any comment on culpability or institutional sanctions to the report's statement that ""there can be no question that the conduct in question represents plagiarism and duplication of work product.""
""We're using the term plagiarism to describe what we saw as excessive duplication of text,"" said Casey Nagy, special assistant to the chancellor. ""We made no finding, and it would be inappropriate for us to make any finding, regarding whether there were reasons that made this a legitimate academic practice.""
Currently, UW-Madison does not have any institutional regulations regarding eligibility other than those determined by the NCAA or the Big Ten. However, the report recommends that such rules be created.
""We have recommended that the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics develop a set of guidelines for the departmental or divisional responses to reports of student athlete academic or non-academic misconduct so that student athletes and staff within the division have a better sense of predictability,"" Nagy said.
At present, Nagy said coaches have discretion regarding how these matters are handled in terms of potential athletic consequences if eligibility is not in question. Any academic consequences will be determined by the dean of students office and will remain confidential in accordance with federal law.
