The athletic department at Florida A&M University was issued the consequences and repercussions for nearly 200 NCAA violations.
In short, the NCAA put the department on probation for four years, which ends Jan. 31, 2010.
The decision also decreases scholarships and grants for the teams involved, which include track and field, basketball, baseball and football.
We hope the department has learned its lesson and acts accordingly in the future.
Record keeping, adhering to rules and following through are areas that we feel need to be addressed and improved.
We cannot continue to have accolades (like being College of the Year and having the Marching 100 perform at the Grammys) stricken down with negative news such as the athletic violations.
The original self-imposed penalties by the athletic department were found too harsh.
Fortunately for Rattler basketball, the new decision will allow it to compete in the MEAC tournament following the regular season.
But we believe the program should have never found itself in this situation – especially when a majority of the violations were blamed on faulty paperwork.
As students, it is never a valid excuse in the eyes of a professor to blame missing homework on computer malfunctions.
Let’s not establish a double standard on the administrative level.
Let’s not allow the mishandling of paperwork to pass as a legitimate reason for the slip-up.
LeMont Calloway for the editorial board.