Privacy and college athletics

Killick · May 31, 2009

Masterful Columbus Dispatch job examining FERPA and how universities are misusing it to cover up their dirty laundry:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/05/31/FERPA_MAIN.ART_ART_05-31-09_A1_VFE0G7F.html?sid=101

And, in a take-out, tOSU's sins specifically:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content//local_news/stories/2009/05/31/FERPA_OSU.ART_ART_05-31-09_A14_D4E14K6.html?sid=101

Embarrassing, to say the least, the lengths some schools are going to, like this:

In the summer of 2002, Derek Morris arrived in town from North Carolina as one of the country's top football recruits. He left Columbus weeks later with rumors circulating that he didn't have the necessary academic credentials to play football.
Records show that boosters, coaches and members of the Touchdown Club of Columbus gave Morris and his family:
• At least $1,175 in cash.
• Help securing a $3,000 loan.
• More than $500 in airline tickets.
• Housing and expenses.
• Legal advice.
• Outside tutoring from a woman who later filed a criminal complaint against the family for nonpayment.
• A job for the recruit's father.
Ohio State said it erred when it didn't remove Morris' name from the NCAA violation report before giving a copy to The Dispatch. In documents provided to The Dispatch in the same case four years ago, Ohio State edited differently, stripping away all details of the special treatment afforded the Morris family. The heavily redacted record also concealed the penalty, if any, OSU faced for the violation.
Click to expand...

Yeah, those are education records, alright. :

DemoChristian · May 31, 2009

Good for the Dispatch and for Buckley for calling these bastards out on their cloak-and-dagger bullshit.

Killick · May 31, 2009

... and, btw, for anyone who thinks this is anything but crooked shit, stuff that has nothing to do with privacy and everything to do with trying to get away with something, I point out this little bit:

Former Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger tried the paternalistic approach when he learned five years ago that former quarterback Troy Smith had accepted $500 from a booster.
"People don't need to know everything," Geiger told The Dispatch in 2004 when questioned about the allegation.
For days, Geiger and football coach Jim Tressel would not explain the broken rule that led to Smith's suspension from the Alamo Bowl that year.
Then Geoffrey Webster, a Columbus lawyer and Ohio State fan who uncovered the payment, went public.
Afterward, Webster said he was swamped with e-mails from current or former collegiate athletes across the country. "They all were saying thank you, that it was out of hand at their school, too," Webster said.
Before giving money to Smith, booster Robert Q. Baker had tripped up at least two other Ohio State football players. But those problems didn't become public until after the Smith incident.
If not for Webster's intervention, it's impossible to know how many other players might have been approached by Baker, now banned by Ohio State from his luxury suite at Ohio Stadium. Baker was not banned until after public disclosure of the facts.
Click to expand...

As long as nobody knew anything about it, Baker was still hanging around the program - probably giving benefits to other student athletes. Only after public knowledge did tOSU suddenly become righteous.

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Privacy and college athletics

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