The Lamron

Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Dominick Ciruzzi

The Geneseo men's ice hockey program has been banned from postseason play for this year and a women's tennis player's season has come to a close as the result of several NCAA sanctions against the athletics program stemming from a major violation of Division III financial aid rules.

The NCAA ruling, which was announced Thursday, Jan. 28, found that between the 2006-07 and 2008-09 academic years, a disproportionate number of institutionally administered grants - specifically, grants from the Canadian Student Initiative (CSI) scholarship program - were awarded to student-athletes when compared to the rest of the student body. Almost all recipients played ice hockey.

During the 2007-08 academic year, 100 percent of the CSI grants were awarded to student-athletes. In 2008-09, 17 of 19 grant recipients participated in intercollegiate athletics. Currently, nine members of the ice hockey team and one member of the women's tennis team - sophomore Olga Dimic - receive CSI grants.

Because the men's hockey team has already been penalized through the banning of postseason play, the affected players are permitted to keep their grants for the remainder of the academic year. Dimic, however, was forced to choose between staying as a member of the team for the spring season, which would prohibit the program from going to nationals, or withdrawing from the team and allowing the program to participate in the postseason.

Dimic chose to withdraw from the team to allow her teammates the opportunity to play at nationals. "I already told [Geneseo Athletic Director] Marilyn [Moore] that I won't be playing," Dimic said. "I don't want to stop our team from doing well."

Dimic was the only international player on the women's tennis team. Her withdrawal leaves her unable to practice with her teammates for the remainder of the year, likely unable to go with the team to their spring break tournament in Orlando, Fl. - for which she has already bought a plane ticket - and forces her to decide between continuing the CSI aid program as a non-athlete next year, or forfeiting the aid and rejoining the tennis team.

The nine ice hockey players receiving the grant, all of whom are of sophomore or junior standing, face the same dilemma as Dimic entering the 2010-11 academic year.

The CSI grants, which are non-need-based, were first made available in 2001 as part of a SUNY-wide effort to augment international enrollment. Recipients of the grant had their tuition effectively lowered to the in-state level and were awarded a room scholarship if they lived on campus.

As part of the corrective measures outlined in the ruling, Geneseo discontinued the CSI program for all incoming students, starting with the 2009-10 academic year. The college will maintain its commitment to non-student-athletes already receiving the grant for the remainder of their time at Geneseo as the program is phased out.

"We're going to get rid of [the CSI program]. What's the point?" Moore said. "We're not going to go through this again."

In addition, Geneseo's athletics program has been placed on probation for two years. The case was resolved using the summary disposition process, in which the college submits the case in written form to the NCAA Committee on Infractions, until the NCAA enforcement staff and the college reach an agreement regarding the facts of the case and the sanctions to be imposed. Both the two-year probationary period and the discontinuation of the CSI scholarship program were self-imposed sanctions by Geneseo.

Said Geneseo President Christopher Dahl of the ultimate sanctions: "They are appropriate because we agreed to them with the NCAA. I can tell you that at every point, however, we pushed back because we were concerned with the interests of our athletes."

The NCAA Committee on Infractions' public infractions report determined that no one at Geneseo deliberately violated NCAA rules, but that the disparity of grants constituted an infraction anyway.

"Though there was no indication that anyone in the institution's department of athletics or administration intended to circumvent NCAA rules, the disproportionate awarding of the grants to student-athletes resulted in more than a minimal competitive advantage to the institution's athletics program," the report stated.

The ruling marked the first major violation in the history of Geneseo athletics. Dahl said that he intends for it to be the last.

"Our big goal, of course, is never, ever to see a major infraction again in the history of the college, especially during the two-year period of probation," Dahl said. "We'll check, we'll double-check, we'll triple-check, we'll compare data and we'll watch the proportionality issue carefully and make sure that the data itself is absolutely, totally accurate."

Dahl has tasked Kenneth H. Levison, vice president for finance and administration, with reviewing all financial aid data pertaining to athletics and checking it against NCAA Division III regulations, to ensure that the college meets all guidelines moving forward.

Geneseo was not the only SUNYAC member to be hit with NCAA sanctions last Thursday. Buffalo State's men's and women's ice hockey programs had nearly identical sanctions imposed as a result of a major financial aid violation concerning the same CSI aid program. Both the men's and women's teams from Buffalo State have been banned from postseason play this year.

The rulings against Buffalo State and Geneseo are "first look" cases for the NCAA in its enforcement of a 2005 amendment to a financial aid bylaw, as they were the first two schools to be found in violation. The bylaw essentially calls for institutionally administered grants to be evenly distributed in accordance with the percentage of student-athletes within the student body.

"This is a wake-up call to the college," Dahl said. "It's also a wake-up call to all Division III programs that have Canadian Student Initiatives."

Ice Knights stunned

Prior to the NCAA ruling, the Ice Knights were squarely in SUNYAC postseason contention, positioned for a possible home playoff game.

At roughly 3 p.m. on Jan. 28 - two days before a then-crucial conference game against SUNY Morrisville - the players were called into a meeting with Moore, head coach Chris Schultz and assistant coach Kris Heeres. Moore, Schultz and Heeres then broke the startling news to the team.

"As upset as they are, as they were, their true colors came out," Schultz said of the players' reaction to the sanctions. "There was an initial rally around each other, especially around the seniors … To be put in this situation your senior year, with six games left, to have a possible dream taken away from you of winning a championship, it's not something that comes easy."

"[The seniors] immediately took control of the locker room, said, 'We're going to finish these six games out, and we're going to make the best of it.' I think the way they're looking at it is: It's not life and death. It's a situation that's a road block, it's a fork in the road, that you have to deal with."

Senior right-winger Phil Rose, an assistant captain, said the team had little choice but to continue on. "We're moving on as a team now, just trying to focus on the last five games," he said. "I mean, that's really all we can do now."

"Obviously every game means more to us now, especially seniors because it will be the last five games of our Geneseo careers, but I think there's just that much more passion for the game now," senior co-captain Jeff MacPhee said.

Just two days after the NCAA's gavel fell, the Ice Knights faced off against Morrisville. Geneseo outshot the host Mustangs, 17-5, in the third period of a resounding 7-4 victory.

The Ice Knights moved to 9-10-1 overall with the win, and 5-6-0 in SUNYAC play.

Rose said that the younger players have been motivated to play well for the seniors in the aftermath of the sanctions. "I haven't really had to say much, because [the younger players] have really said things for us, saying, 'We've got to play for them,' so I mean it's been nice not having to ask them to give their effort, because you know they're going to," he said. "It's definitely been a team experience, but at the same time … it still sucks."

"Is it fair to the players? No. It is not," Schultz said of the sanctions. "No hockey player, no athlete, no student-athlete, should have to go through what they're going through right now."

Schultz asked that fans support the seniors during the final games of the season. "I would encourage any loyal fans to the program to support our seniors," he said. "They're six unbelievable guys that have been dealt a blow here. This has nothing to do with them, this is something that really … it's not deserving of what they've accomplished so far here."

The Ice Knights close out their season at home on Feb. 19-20 against SUNY Cortland and No. 1 SUNY Oswego. "I'm hoping the place is jammed and supporting the team on their last hurrah," Schultz said.

Recruiting impact

Given that the purpose of the CSI aid program was to boost international enrollment, it remains to be seen whether its discontinuation will have any significant effect on admissions.

"[The discontinuation of the CSI grants] will not help Canadian enrollment, short-term," Dahl said. "However, our data on Canadian enrollment suggests that we successfully recruited a number of students from Canada this year without it."

Recruitment of student-athletes has remained relatively steady, as well. Schultz said that thus far, the ruling has had no effect on student prospects who have committed to play for the Ice Knights next year.

"So far with our commitments, they've all maintained their commitments," Schultz said. "The sanctions aren't going to impact them next year and they're committed to being students here and athletes here. The way I look at it, if you're going to decommit because of this, you're not going to Geneseo for the right reasons."

Moore echoed Schultz's sentiment: "When you think about the fact that our student-athletes are here for an education first, I don't think it's going to have that much of an impact on our program, because they choose to come here for an education first and play hockey second."

One former Ice Knight said he thinks Canadian recruiting will be clearly affected by the discontinuation of the grants. Chris Kestell '09, a co-captain on last year's Ice Knights team, said he received the CSI grants while attending Geneseo, and that the cost was a key factor in his decision to attend.

Without the CSI aid, Kestell said, "No, I don't think I could have [attended Geneseo], I probably would have looked at some other opportunities that might have been available to me."

"I think [the sanctions] will affect recruiting a great deal," Kestell continued. "They're going to have to speak to wealthier families. Obviously it's a tough school to get into as it is, and I think it's going to make it even tougher to get poor kids in there."

According to Geneseo's international admissions Web site, a non-need-based International Student Scholarship still exists in the CSI's absence. The site explicitly states, however, that international students competing in intercollegiate athletics are ineligible to receive scholarship support, "in accordance with NCAA and Geneseo guidelines."

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