Multiyear allegations of academic fraud were levied between 1995 and 2002, stemming from charges of tutors assisting male athletes to plagiarize between 1995 and 1998.
In 1991 Linda Bensel-Meyers, head of composition for the English Department, and Carmen Tegano, head of academic services for men’s athletics, created a satellite tutoring facility in the men’s Athletics Department. In 1995 Robin Redmon Wright, an instructor in the English Department, became coordinator of that satellite center. In 1996 Wright modified the Athletics Department’s tutor handbook to allow only those tutors in the Athletics Writing Center—trained by the English Department—to assist athletes with grammar, transitions, proofreading, and editing. She also prohibited the typing of papers by tutors because of the potential for excessive collaboration.
In 1997 Bensel-Meyers sent a document to the Faculty Senate in which she pointed to problems in 1995 that involved tutors doing the work of freshman athletes. In 1998 Robin Wright became coordinator of academic programs for the Athletics Department, which involved responsibility for most of the Athletics Department tutors. Tutors for the disabled and one longtime tutor, retained by the Athletics Department over her recommendation to terminate, were not under her supervision. In fall 1998 Wright sent a series of messages to her supervisor and Tegano pointing to problems with the level of assistance being provided by specific tutors. In early 1999 Wright resigned to accept a post at Stephen F. Austin University.
With Wright gone, the Athletics Department’s Tutor Guidebook was modified to remove some of the 1996 safeguards she had put into place to prevent plagiarism. Under the new rules, all tutors (not just those approved by the English Department) were allowed to provide assistance with grammar and transitions and to help athletes with proofreading and editing. Athletics Department tutors were also allowed to type papers for students.
In a September 20, 1999, memo to the general counsel, chancellor, and other academic officials, Bensel-Meyers questioned the ability of the Athletics Department to monitor its academic support program and called for academic services for athletes to be removed from the control of the Athletics Department, citing problems between 1995 and 1998. Following an ESPN.com investigative report (based upon the e-mails and data provided by Bensel-Meyers), UT suspended four football players in fall 1999 but later reinstated them, saying no NCAA rules had been broken following a preliminary internal investigation.
In February 2000 Reggie Ridley, one of the four athletes briefly suspended, and Victoria Gray, a former tutor, filed suit against ESPN and Robin Wright for defamation. In May, Spencer Riley filed a class-action suit against UT, the NCAA, and Bensel-Meyers, asserting that university employees illegally released his student record, which mentioned a learning disability. President J. Wade Gilley announced that there would be no NCAA investigation.
In October the Faculty Senate voted to create an academic integrity committee to study the areas of tutoring, grade changes, and learning-disability accommodations for athletes. The committee reported in May and made 21 recommendations, among them more academic oversight of the Athletics Department’s tutoring programs. The NCAA was on campus in March 2000 to investigate Bensel-Meyers’ claims and then dropped the complaint. Following a report prepared by the provost’s office comparing athletes’ and nonathletes’ rate of receiving an incomplete in a course and with additional data supplied by Bensel-Meyers, the NCAA was reported to be initiating a new investigation. But in May the NCAA announced that there would be no further investigation.
In July 2000 President Gilley announced that the provost’s office would assume authority for tutoring programs in the University of Tennessee’s Athletics Departments. A three-member governing committee of faculty, chaired by Dr. Anne Mayhew, UT’s NCAA faculty athletics representative, developed operating policies for academic support programs. In May 2002 UT Provost Loren Crabtree announced that the SEC had notified UT that it had met its obligations to review and report all relevant information concerning NCAA violations raised more than two years prior. All information had been provided to the NCAA in a series of reports in 2000. In response to further inquiries, UT officials had met with NCAA representatives in June 2001. On July 10, 2001, UT announced the NCAA’s decision to discontinue its inquiry.
In May 2002, following Provost Crabtree’s announcement, former Sports Information Director Bob Gilbert joined Bensel-Meyers in allegations of academic fraud. An SEC representative met with Gilbert but found the UT review thorough. President Wade Gilley criticized Bensel-Meyers, as did Carmen Tegano.
Bensel-Meyers went to the FBI in May 2000, saying her office had been broken into, her phone had been bugged, and she had received threatening mail. She said some of the mail mentioned her children. Because of the nature of the alleged incidents, Bensel-Meyers said at the time that “someone internal to the university” had done the break-ins. Her May 15, 2003, letter of resignation to accept a position at the University of Denver contained strong language reiterating some of her previous allegations: that athletes were “forcibly labeled” learning disabled, that they were told that tutors could do work for them, and that student-athletes were essentially “mere investment capital” for the profitable business of the intercollegiate athletics program.
Academic support services are currently provided through the Thornton Athletics Student Life Center, which reports to the provost’s office.