SEC examines Tennessee academic documents

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Posted 6:49AM on Friday, May 17, 2002

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - The Southeastern Conference sent an investigator Thursday to the home of a former University of Tennessee employee to examine documents that he says prove a pattern of academic fraud. Bill Sievers, an independent investigator contracted by the SEC, spent two hours at the Maryville home of Bob Gilbert, director of university's news services for 29 years and a syndicated sports columnist. Sievers reviewed documents Gilbert said he got from Linda Bensel-Meyers, the English professor at the center of an academic fraud investigation three years ago. The documents - spreadsheets compiled from 39 students' transcripts between 1995 and 1999 - show grades were changed to keep athletes eligible and athletes taking easy courses and ones not related to a certain major, Gilbert said. The NCAA's two-year inquiry into academic fraud at Tennessee ended last summer without any violations against the school or athletes. Both the SEC and NCAA reviewed the same documents three years ago and found no irregularities, Dr. Anne Mayhew, vice chancellor for academic affairs, said Thursday. Sievers did not speak with reporters as he left Gilbert's home. Gilbert said he was not allowed to discuss exactly what Sievers said to him. ``I thought he asked good questions and took copious notes,'' Gilbert said. Sievers then went to talk to Bensel-Meyers, who has talked several times with investigators and is a vocal critic of tutoring policies and coursework for athletes. ``He definitely listened and certainly understood it better than the NCAA investigator did,'' Bensel-Meyers said. ``I also got a chance to point out what I see as being the actual NCAA infraction the fact that these athletes were not declaring majors.'' ``The real question I have is whether the SEC or NCAA would ever care enough about academics to ever change the problems we have on this campus. I'm concerned about whether the university finally questions its own behavior and decides they want to give the athletes an education.'' Sievers also interviewed Mayhew and university general counsel Catherine Mizell on Thursday. ``I don't think this is going anywhere because we've already been through this,'' Mayhew said. SEC commissioner Roy Kramer, a long-time friend of Gilbert, sent Sievers to Gilbert's home after Gilbert wrote a column published Monday regarding the investigation of alleged payments made to former Tennessee quarterback Tee Martin. In it, Gilbert criticized the SEC for finding no academic violations at Tennessee. He said Kramer told him: ``I'm tired of people writing things when they don't know what they're talking about and don't have the facts. I said, 'Back up, Roy. I've got the facts.' He got mad and said, 'I'm sending my investigator up there to talk to you.' I said, `Send that fellow on, right now.''' The SEC declined comment except to say it looks at every potential infraction brought to its attention, spokesman Charles Bloom said. ``We can't investigate what we don't know,'' he said. Sievers will present his findings to Kramer, who may choose to forward them to the NCAA if he believes infractions may have occurred. Tennessee athletic director Doug Dickey was on vacation and unavailable for comment Thursday. Bensel-Meyers started compiling the documents to root out evidence of plagiarism in writing classes. She gave copies to Gilbert two years ago after ESPN reported that tutors were writing papers for football players. No one from the SEC has ever examined the documents, she said. The NCAA didn't look at them thoroughly, and university officials claimed they were false, she said. ``Nobody came to ask me for what I had. Nobody came to her to ask what she had,'' Gilbert said. ``Then it became apparent to me that the university was ducking this information.'' The documents did not include the students' names because they are protected by federal regulations. Two were basketball players and the rest football players. Each sheet lists the student's GPA, entrance test scores, major, number of grade changes and the number of times he was on academic review. The courses taken over the student's career are divided by final grades: A, B, C, D and F. One column shows the grade the instructor initially assigned. Classes that earned a no credit or incomplete mark are also shown. The GPAs ranged from 3.50 to 1.66. Two players each had 11 grade changes to keep them eligible, the papers showed. Some students failed courses such as walking and jogging. One player had his grade for an Urban Studies practicum changed four times from an incomplete to F to D and finally a C. Grade changing is common throughout the university, and many students list their major as undecided even though they are pursuing one, Mayhew said. ``All the student-athletes are checked very closely for this because if they are not following a degree path, then they cannot meet the conditions of continuing eligibility,'' she said