In February 1995 Telephone Services discovered an accounting problem with the access code assigned to Kirsten Benson in 1993. Benson was an employee in the Athletics Department’s Office of Student Life. A computer programming glitch in the installation of the 1992 telephone switch resulted in more than 17,000 long-distance calls made from dorm rooms, with the access code being unbilled.
The resulting investigation determined that Benson had given the code to former baseball player Brian May in 1994 to make long-distance calls in search of a sports management internship and that at least 56 students had made calls, the majority being former or current athletes. Some fraudulent calls were found to have been made before April 1994 from the Office of Student Life and other university extensions. Of the 160 students who were interviewed, 104 denied involvement. One freshman and one signee were declared ineligible, and the Office of Student Conduct penalized 56 students. All penalties included paying for the calls. Football Coach Phillip Fulmer and Basketball Coach Kevin O’Neill specified additional penalties against 31 student athletes: suspension for the 1995 season and loss of grants-in-aid—Leland Taylor and Jason Parker; loss of $850 grants-in-aid, loss of two game tickets for season, and suspension from the opening game—Andy McCullough, James Smith, Tyrone Hines, Chester Ford, and Damon Johnson; loss of $850 grants-in-aid and loss of two game tickets for season—Cory Gaines, Craig King, Joey Kent, Maurice Staley, Steve Johnson, Marcus Nash, Jeff Coleman, and Terry Fair; one hundred hours of community service and loss of two game tickets for the season—Mark Levine, Jonathan Brown, Leonard Little, Diron Robinson, Eric Lane, Tory Edge, Leslie Ratliffe, Travis Cozart, Greg Kyler, Nick Jester, Tori Noel, John Emery, Mercedes Hamilton, Dustin Moore, Raymond Austin, and Shane Williams. Damon Johnson and Shane Williams were basketball players; the others were football players. Johnson and Williams were also held out of two exhibition basketball games in November. According to Athletics Director Dickey, community service requirements were also imposed upon walk-on football players and nonscholarship athletics and support personnel. Since the code was presumed to have been stolen, its use by athletes did not constitute SEC or NCAA infractions.
The Athletics Department developed a program running from June 5 through August 1 in which all UT athletes involved in the telephone scandal worked off their community-service-hours penalty by volunteering at area nonprofit organizations. Jamie Whited, assistant athletic trainer, worked with the athletes to identify 10 topics that were the focus of the program, and the athletes volunteered at nonprofits that specifically dealt with those topics. The athletes worked with the Metropolitan Drug Commission, Knox County Health Department, AIDS Response, United Way, SHARE Food Bank, and other agencies.