And all that barely a month after learning about the incident.
Of course I’m not talking about UO, or consequences for Dana Altman over his decision to enroll Brandon Austin. Not only did UO not suspend or fine Altman, so far as I can tell we let him and AD Rob Mullens keep their bonus checks for getting into the NCAA tournament, under some pretty reprehensible circumstances. As for releasing the investigation report by Amanda Walkup of the Hershner Hunter law firm, dream on Oregonian, dream on.
While UO is now overdue for its next big Duck scandal, the latest example of the kind of brand-enhancing publicity that big-time sports brings to universities comes from Rutgers. Here’s the letter from President Robert Barchi, who has acquired a lot of experience dealing with athletics scandals. It’s amazing he still finds the time to run a university:
Dear Members of the Rutgers Community:
Since our University was established almost 250 years ago, Rutgers has grown to become the State of New Jersey’s premier public institution of higher learning. With that designation, we have an obligation to provide outstanding educational opportunities, to ensure high quality and productive research, to serve the local, national and world communities, and to do so with integrity and a steadfast commitment to the central academic mission of our university. It is in this context that I provide you with the following report.
As some of you may be aware, the University has been reviewing an allegation that the Head Football Coach at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Kyle Flood, circumvented established policies and procedures in contacting a faculty member to discuss the academic standing of a student-athlete. This allegation was first reported to the University on August 12th and within 24 hours, after consultations with our Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, with our Interim Senior Vice President & General Counsel and with the Interim Senior Vice President for Enterprise Risk Management, Ethics and Compliance, the University retained an outside investigator and counsel and undertook an investigation of the charge.
Yesterday, I received the final investigative report and I have decided to release the report, with limited redactions required by privacy laws, as I want the University community to understand both what we now know and the thorough nature of the investigation. The report is available at http://president.rutgers.edu/files/Final-Report.pdf.
Below is a brief summary of some of the major findings: