THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TALLAHASSEE - All Florida State sports teams will be on self-imposed probation for two years and some will lose scholarships because of an academic cheating scandal, the university said in an investigatory report released Thursday.
About 60 student-athletes also have or will suffer some loss of eligibility. Two staffers, a tutor and learning specialist already had been fired. No additional dismissals were listed in the report.
The report outlines corrective actions the school is taking. Among them is a requirement for all athletics staffers to attend a four-hour training program titled "Decision-Making in the NCAA Compliance Environment."
The cheating occurred mainly through online testing for a single course in the fall of 2006 and the spring and summer semesters last year.
"We believe that our investigation has been thorough and exhaustive," said Florida State provost Larry Abele, who chaired the investigating committee. "This university and its Athletics Department have accepted responsibility, made changes in the process and systems and imposed penalties as warranted."
The NCAA's Student-Athlete Reinstatement staff, though, has agreed to a 30 percent across-the-board loss of eligibility for students who came forward and admitted they received improper help with the test.
Some of the penalties already have gone into effect. About two dozen of the football team's top players were suspended for the Music City Bowl on Dec. 31 in Nashville, Tenn., where the Seminoles lost to Kentucky.
Other corrective actions include changes in the format and structure of all online courses, a requirement that online exams be taken with a proctor present, changes in the structure and process of the athletic academic support services unit and modifications in the monitoring of an athlete's course work.
