The Division I Committee on Infractions used the summary-disposition process to complete a case involving violations of extra benefits legislation in the women's basketball program at Stephen F. Austin State University.

The university imposed penalties on itself, and those penalties were accepted by the Committee on Infractions. The summary-disposition process is a cooperative effort used to resolve major violations through a written record rather than a hearing before the group. The process is used when the university, involved individuals and the NCAA enforcement staff agree on the facts of the case and that those facts constitute a major violation. In this case, the violations could not be considered secondary because they were not isolated or inadvertent.

Specifically, from 1995 to 2000, women's basketball student-athletes who attended summer classes at Stephen F. Austin were provided with cost-free textbooks. The head women's basketball coach arranged for the textbooks with a local bookstore.

During the regular academic year, the student-athletes received a full grant-in-aid. During the summer, however, they received a dollar amount that covered tuition and fees and an additional $50 to $100. Provision of cost-free textbooks is an extra benefit.

Five current student-athletes who received the benefit were declared ineligible by the university. Eligibility was restored upon restitution based on the actual resale value of the books.

The Committee on Infractions adopted the self-imposed actions and penalties taken by the university. Those actions include:

Increasing avenues of rules education for all department staff members and representatives of the institution's athletics interests. Education of representatives will occur primarily through educational mailers and information on the Internet.

Declaring student-athletes who received impermissible benefits ineligible and seeking restoration of eligibility from the NCAA. Student-athletes were required to make restitution to a charitable organization.

Issuing a letter of reprimand from the director of athletics to all full-time women's basketball coaching staff members concerning their role in the violations.

Requiring all full-time members of the women's basketball coaching staff to attend a NCAA regional rules compliance seminar.

Prohibiting the women's basketball team from appearing in any regular-season televised game during the 2000-01 season.

As required by NCAA legislation for any institution involved in a major infractions case, Stephen F. Austin is subject to the NCAA's repeat-violator provisions for a five-year period beginning on the effective date of the penalties in this case (January 8, 2002).

The members of the Division I Committee on Infractions who completed this case are: Thomas E. Yeager, committee chair and commissioner, Colonial Athletic Association; Paul T. Dee, director of athletics, University of Miami (Florida); Andrea Myers, athletics director at Indiana State University; James Park Jr., attorney and retired judge, Frost Brown Todd, Lexington, Kentucky; and Josephine Potuto, professor of law, University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

A copy of the complete report from the Division I Committee on Infractions is available on NCAA Online at www.ncaa.org.