The Division I Committee on Infractions has placed Weber State University on two years of probation and has restructured the university’s self-imposed financial aid reduction in a case that involved impermissible extra benefits to student-athletes in 15 varsity sports over a three-year period.

Specifically, 193 student-athletes used textbook grant-in-aid funds — given to them in the form of a $200 credit at the university’s bookstore — to buy personal items and books that were not required. Over the three-year period, the improper purchases totaled $8,467.30 

The committee noted that taken individually, the benefit accrual to each extra student-athlete would be considered secondary in nature, but the large number of involved student-athletes made the case a major violation.

Though the violations were narrow in scope, the institution admitted that it lacked institutional control over the athletics program, a finding adopted by the committee, and one that always is considered a major violation of NCAA legislation.

The case was resolved through the summary-disposition process rather than a formal hearing before the Committee on Infractions. Summary disposition is used when there is agreement among the institution, the NCAA enforcement staff and involved parties as to the facts of the case and the university proposes penalties. The Committee on Infractions reviewed the agreement and the penalties recommended by the institution.

During its review of the case, the committee communicated with the university and recommended that it restructure its self-imposed financial aid reduction and extended the self-imposed probation from one year to two.

The institution had proposed spreading a .88 reduction in financial aid across all 15 sports. However, bylaws regarding how financial aid is tabulated made that arrangement impossible. Instead, the committee recommended and the institution accepted a reduction of one scholarship in football for the 2006-07 season.

With those additions, the penalties adopted by the committee are as follows:

• Public reprimand and censure.
• A two-year probation, which will expire January 18, 2008.

The members of the Committee on Infractions who reviewed this case were Paul T. Dee, director of athletics at the University of Miami (Florida); Edward Leland, vice president for advancement at the University of the Pacific; Gene Marsh, committee chair and professor of law at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; James Park Jr., a Lexington, Kentucky, attorney; Josephine R. Potuto, faculty athletics representative and professor of law at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln; and Thomas E. Yeager, commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association.