Alaska-Fairbanks Investigation Drags On
Division II Alaska-Fairbanks self-reported their academic eligibility violation over two years ago. It looks to be a standard violation seen at a number of Division II and smaller Division I institutions in recent history. Inadequate compliance and advising resources and training resulted in a large number of athletes being allowed to compete while academically ineligible. Yet the investigation drags on:
“We’ve provided all the documentation they requested,” Gray said. The documents include advising files and transcripts related to eligibility involving transfers to UAF or students progressing toward a degree there.
“They’ve conducted several interviews with people, some of whom them no longer at the university,” Gray said. “They’ve asked them for different information about the process that was executed at the time of the violations.”
The Nanooks now hope to hear something during this fall semester. There are a number of explanations for such a long investigation into a relatively common type of violation. The close contact and the talk about presenting a package to the Committee on Infractions suggests that Alaska-Fairbanks is in the process of negotiating a summary disposition. As we saw in the Oregon case, that can take a long time and delay a case even further if the agreement falls through.