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<DIV><FONT color=#150e00 size=4>I actually ran into a situation somewhat like
this when I worked with WSU on their National Board Program for teachers.
For a candidate to be accepted into the program s/he has to show affidavits of 3
years of successful teaching. One of my Pullman teachers left her school
district when she was offered a contract in Pullman. She had been on
a one year contract, which she fulfilled. The district refused to sign telling
her she didn’t give them notice of her leaving and they “planned to offer her a
contract.” Fortunately the National Board took the letter as evidence of
successful teaching. Some folks in positions of power are just plain
mean.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=4><BR>Sue H.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=art.deco.studios@gmail.com
href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com">Art Deco</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, January 14, 2012 7:30 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] More N.C.A.A. ‘Justice’</DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV class=left><A href="http://www.nytimes.com/"><IMG border=0 hspace=0
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<DIV class=timestamp>January 13, 2012</DIV>
<H1>More N.C.A.A. ‘Justice’</H1>
<H6 class=byline>By <A class=meta-per title="More Articles by Joe Nocera"
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/columns/josephnocera/?inline=nyt-per"
rel=author>JOE NOCERA</A></H6>
<DIV id=articleBody>
<P><A title="A previous column"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/opinion/nocera-ncaas-justice-system.html?_r=1">Last
week’s case study</A> in <A class=meta-org
title="More articles about the National Collegiate Athletic Association."
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_collegiate_athletic_assn/index.html?inline=nyt-org">N.C.A.A.</A>
injustice took place at the University of North Carolina, where every sport is
big time. Today, we move north to a different kind of institution, <A
href="http://www.sju.edu/">St. Joseph’s University</A>, a small Jesuit-run
school in Philadelphia. With fewer than 5,000 undergraduates, St. Joe’s doesn’t
even field a football team, but its little-engine-that-could basketball team has
long been a source of pride. During the 2003-4 season, for instance, it went
27-0 in the regular season and made it to the regional final of the N.C.A.A.
championship tournament. </P>
<P>In 2008, Todd O’Brien, a 7-foot center, transferred from Bucknell, where he
had played as a freshman, to St. Joe’s. After sitting out a year, which the
N.C.A.A. requires when a player switches schools, he played the next two seasons
at St. Joe’s. His coach, <A
href="http://www.sjuhawks.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/martelli_phil00.html">Phil
Martelli</A>, gave him plenty of playing time in his first year, but in his
second year the team struggled, O’Brien played poorly and he wound up mostly on
the bench. </P>
<P>He also graduated with a major in economics. Yet because of the year he sat
out, he still had a year of athletic eligibility left — and he still wanted to
play basketball. The athletic department’s academic advisers suggested that he
delay graduation and fill his final year with courses like pottery, O’Brien told
me. He had larger ambitions, however. He wanted to get a graduate degree in
public administration. St. Joe’s didn’t have a suitable program, but O’Brien
found one to his liking at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The
basketball coaching staff there was excited to have him join the team for his
final season of college basketball. </P>
<P>There was one problem, however. Even though O’Brien was a bench warmer,
Martelli, O’Brien said, was furious when he found out the player was leaving. <A
href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/basketball/ncaa/12/19/todd.obrien/index.html">As
O’Brien later recounted to Sports Illustrated</A>, when he told his coach that
he was going to be attending Alabama-Birmingham for graduate school, Martelli
responded with an expletive-laced tirade, vowing to block him from finishing his
course work, and even threatening to sue him. </P>
<P>In a second meeting a few days later, according to O’Brien and his lawyer,
Martelli told him that he would either “be playing at St. Joe’s next year or not
playing anywhere.” O’Brien had already ascertained that there was no N.C.A.A.
impediment to him playing for another school. It has a special rule for athletes
like him — graduate students with remaining eligibility — allowing them to
enroll in another university without having to sit out a year. The rule also
states, though, that the player’s previous school has to agree to “release” him.
St. Joe’s, clearly acting at Martelli’s behest, refused to sign the necessary
paperwork. </P>
<P>Let’s put aside the question of why college athletes usually have to sit out
a year when they transfer, even though coaches can switch schools at the drop of
a hat. That’s a column for another day. Let’s focus instead on O’Brien’s plight.
How can a student who has graduated from one institution be prevented from
participating in an extracurricular activity at a different school? How can a
miffed coach’s pique control the activities of a student who doesn’t even play
for him anymore? Can a music teacher who is angry at a violin student prevent
him from playing in another school’s orchestra? The very idea is absurd. Why is
it any less absurd when the student is an athlete? Why is it any less wrong? Yet
that is precisely what the N.C.A.A.’s rules make possible. </P>
<P>And which it then reinforces with its own iron fist. Unable to persuade St.
Joe’s to change its mind, O’Brien appealed to the N.C.A.A. Did the N.C.A.A.,
which purports to care about the welfare of its “student-athletes,” take stern
action against St. Joe’s? <A
href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/seth_davis/01/09/Todd.O.Brien/index.html">Of
course not</A>. </P>
<P>In response to O’Brien’s appeal, St. Joe’s submitted a letter complaining,
among other things, that his transfer was done for “athletic reasons” rather
than academic ones. Though that clearly is untrue, so what if it had been? Why
should his reason matter? Nevertheless, the N.C.A.A. sided with the school. An
N.C.A.A. spokeswoman sent me a statement saying, “St. Joseph’s opposition was an
important factor” in denying O’Brien’s request. Which only makes sense, since
coaches, not athletes, are the N.C.A.A.’s real constituency. (She also said that
the N.C.A.A. would review the case again this week.) For its part, St. Joe’s has
refused to discuss the situation, citing “privacy laws.” </P>
<P>In <A
href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204257504577151212467142838.html?mod=googlenews_wsj">a
column in The Wall Street Journal this week</A>, Mark Emmert, the N.C.A.A.
president, complained about unnamed critics who were calling for players to be
paid — <A title="A Times Magazine article"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/lets-start-paying-college-athletes.html">gee,
who could he be referring to?</A> — and said that the N.C.A.A. had to come up
with solutions “that reflect our values.” Its real values are reflected in cases
like Todd O’Brien’s. There are a hundred others just like his. </P>
<P>Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, a small Catholic school has disgraced itself
because it won’t stand up to its bully of a basketball coach. </P>
<DIV class=articleCorrection></DIV></DIV><BR>
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width=1 height=1></DIV></NOSCRIPT><BR clear=all><BR>-- <BR>Art Deco (Wayne A.
Fox)<BR><A href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com"
target=_blank>art.deco.studios@gmail.com</A><BR>
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