Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

7/12/2010 at 3:56pm

Arkansas State University has officially received a letter of inquiry from the NCAA pertaining to violations made due to ineligible student-athletes in competition and academic fraud.

ASU has already penalized itself $43,500 after completing an internal investigation of the university's improper handling of certification issues of 21 ASU student-athletes in February 2009.

ASU maintains that it became aware of the improper academic certification of 21 athletes in August 2008. According to the university's release, there were discrepancies discovered relating to "inconsistent evaluation of transfer credit hours to ASU and the calculation of hours toward degree completion."

Academic advisors within the athletic department were rounding up percentages to meet NCAA regulations, rather than rounding down as NCAA rules stipulate. The two advisors were Ron Norman and Liz Flanagan.

The university's report also concluded that the 21 student-athletes themselves did nothing wrong. Of those athletes, all but one was granted waivers by the NCAA to participate in athletic competitions. ASU senior men's basketball player Yima Chia-Kur's waiver was denied and he was forced to sit out the season's first 15 games.

The NCAA said in a letter dated June 30 that it hoped to have its investigations completed by July 9. A timetable for when an outcome of the investigations would take place was not given, though the NCAA pledged to give ASU reports of its status every six months with the next status report scheduled for December 30.

Robert L. Potts, interim president of Arkansas State University, said Monday that pursuant to a request made by the NCAA, university officials "will refrain from discussing the case."

Tagged: Ron Norman, Yima Chia-Kur, Liz Flanagan, NCAA, inquiry, Arkansas State University, Robert Potts