Draft Report for the Athletic Department Discipline Policy Announced
April 29, 2005
Corvallis, Ore. - Oregon State University Director of Athletics Bob De Carolis met with media today in Gill Coliseum, updating the Department's policy regarding discipline. Media in attendance represented the Associated Press, The Oregonian, Gazette-Times, Register-Guard, KEZI, KVAL, KGW, KATU and KEJO.
The following is De Carolis' opening statements:
"I appreciate everybody coming. I'm going to try to take you back through the process. As most of you know back on March 18 I announced that due to the incidences that some of our student-athletes have been involved in, particularly in football, we were going to order a review of our disciplinary process and our educational programs that we were offering. The 45-day window is coming to a close, so I thought this would be a good time to give you a progress report.
I want to stress to you that what you have in front of you is NOT the final report, but it is pretty close. There are a number of people involved in this process, so we are giving them a chance to continue with their input - the Senate Welfare Committee. This Committee still has a chance to formalize their responses or have any concerns with the actions we are taking. This is a complex issue with the devil in the details. Our head coaches have not seen this document nor has the athletic advisory board. We also have asked the ASOSU and the Faculty Senate for their input. Our goal is by the middle of June we will have a finalized document - it may not be very different from what you see today, but there may be more details particularly on the educational side.
This is a complex issue that you are weighing the athletic department disciplinary process with the OSU Student Code of Conduct, the court systems and due process.
I want to hit the highlights of what I think is important.
An arrest or citation will start to kick the disciplinary process into action. Depending on what the circumstances are -- a minimum of 10 percent of your games is lost. We will take into account the track record of that student-athlete - have there been any past issues? If there has there could be more of a penalty.
The head coach of the particular sport is responsible for enforcing these sanctions, but we have also created an advisory panel that consists of the Vice Provost for Student Affairs, the Faculty Athletic Representative and myself. The coach has an opportunity to have consultation with this group so that we determine the best resolve.
As we started working on the table of offenses it came abundantly clear that we were going to run out of paper space or have a heck of a document. We can't list all incidences, but we took a general overriding principle - if an incident arises to a felony charge or indictment - at that point a student-athlete will be suspended from all athletic activity until the legal process runs its course.
I would like to take this time to explain the table and how it works. There are some similarities across the board that pertains to some of the comments I have made already.
Two of the things we heard from the state legislators were that our DUII penalties weren't harsh enough and that we needed to create a separate category for sexual offenses. For DUII you will get suspended for 10 percent of competition, so for example if you are a basketball student-athlete you would lose three games - and that would drift into the next season if need be. A baseball or softball player would be in the five to six games area. A second offense for DUII would be an immediate suspension from all athletic activity and permanent dismissal from the program for a conviction.
For a minor in possession it's one contest for the first time, the second is 30 percent of your games and for the third time it is immediate suspension from all athletic activity and permanent dismissal upon conviction.
In the drug section, you lose 20 percent of your contests for a misdemeanor charge and are immediately placed in the random drug testing pool. If you fail a drug test its 10 percent, for the second failure its 50 percent and for the third it is suspension from the team. If you are charged with a felony drug conviction, you are immediately suspended from the team.
For a charge of physical assault you will lose 10 percent of your games, if it is a felony you are dismissed from the team. For a sexual offense the first charge is 30 percent of your games and for a felony you are off the team."
De Carolis, who spent approximately 45 minutes discussing the new policies, also discussed the Educational Review progress report/draft that was presented to the media. The report included the description of programs already in place and new programs that are coming on line. The Student-Athlete Initiative will begin being offered in the fall and will include various components of leadership. The Leadership for Life, Team and Community program begin being taught this term and includes exploring individual leadership skills. A pilot program for football student-athletes consisting of three weeks of seminars is being developed and will be offered in September prior to regular classes - this program hopes to create a peer code of behavior.
Further details of the report will be unveiled in the future once a finalized document is completed.
