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Academic Atrocities that Get Little Attention
The president of Ohio State, Karen A. Holbrook, said the university would investigate allegations of academic impropriety after a report that the star running back Maurice Clarett had received unusual aid in one of his classes as the football team marched toward a national championship last season.
The New York Times reported yesterday that Clarett, one of the premier college players in the country, had passed his African-American and African Studies class by taking two oral exams while the 80 or so other students took a more difficult written exam.
A teaching assistant, who spoke on the condition that she not be publicly identified, and the professor, Paulette Pierce, confirmed that Clarett had walked out of his midterm written exam. He did not retake it, nor did he take the written final exam.
Pierce, an associate professor, said she had given Clarett oral tests because his lack of academic preparation forced her to use unconventional teaching methods.
Pierce said she has given oral exams to other students in past years and she strongly denied allegations that Clarett received special consideration.
The athletic director, Andy Geiger, who attended a news conference yesterday with Holbrook and other university officials in Columbus, Ohio, said he was unaware that any N.C.A.A. rules had been broken. He also said that Clarett did not receive special consideration.
"There are no special considerations for student-athletes," he said.
Geiger and the university's incoming provost, Barbara Snyder, will lead the investigation, Holbrook said. It will look closely at the academic performance of athletes, at tutors who work closely with the athletic department and at the relationship between faculty members and athletes.
Clarett could not be reached for comment.
The teaching assistant said she had left Ohio State fearing reprisals from university officials and from fans of the football team.
Other news involving Clarett emerged yesterday, and it had nothing to do with academics. The Columbus Post-Dispatch reported that Clarett recently had two meetings with N.C.A.A. officials who inquired about his finances and about possible dealings with his friend LeBron James, who was chosen as the N.B.A.'s No. 1 draft pick last month.
Geiger told the newspaper that he did not think the N.C.A.A.'s investigation would lead to Clarett's losing part of his eligibility for the upcoming season, but added: "That doesn't mean it won't change. As of now, he's fine."
The teaching assistant said one of the things that troubled her was the different treatment other football players had received during the course. She said that during a meeting with Pierce and Clarett, Clarett said he had a reading disability.
She said he should have been evaluated by the disability office in order to take his exams orally, and the office should have administered them if it was determined he had a disability.
Another football player, a reserve who was in a different section of the same class last fall, had a disability, the assistant said. He was evaluated by the disability office and provided with a permission slip to take the exams orally. They were administered by the disability office.
A third player, wide receiver Chris Vance, failed the class, according to a university official.
The teaching assistant said that Clarett was allowed to take the easiest path of the three because he was a star. Pierce and the chairman of the department, Kenneth Goings, vehemently denied the accusation.
The teaching assistant and Pierce also said that they were concerned about cheating in the class by athletes and nonathletes, and that academic tutors sometimes wrote papers for players, though Pierce stressed she had no direct proof.
In recent years, Ohio State has been trying to rebound from several embarrassing episodes involving its athletes and academic performance. In 2000, wide receiver Reggie Germany was declared ineligible for the Outback Bowl after recording a 0.0 grade point average for the fall quarter, according to U.S. News and World Report.
The most recent graduation rate data, covering the class that began the 1995-96 academic year, show that Ohio State ranked 10th out of the 11 universities in the Big Ten, graduating 60 percent of its athletes.
Only the University of Minnesota, at 54 percent, was worse.
— Mike Freeman
Ohio State to Examine Special Help for Clarett
New York Times
July 14, 2003
Ohio State to Examine Special Help for Clarett
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
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