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March 18, 2022
Dear faculty and staff,
A little over a year ago, UAF identified and self-reported potential rules violations
in our collegiate athletics programs to the National Collegiate Athletics Association
(NCAA). Since then, Alaska Nanooks’ athletics leaders have worked alongside the NCAA
and outside consultants to investigate and correct violations and strengthen compliance
and training within our programs.Ìý
We have concluded the investigation with the NCAA. The result is a formal for the initial self-reported violations and those we discovered and reported during
our investigation. We are very appreciative of the NCAA for their proactive, collaborative
and constructive work with us as we addressed the issues.
In our work with the NCAA, we discovered and reported what were a series of minor
violations. Each one of these would have been a minor violation in and of itself,
but taken together across Division I and Division II they resulted in what is called
a major infraction.Ìý
The violations we found fell into two categories. The first related to the temporary
use of housing and transportation for 18 student athletes. The second related to amateurism
and eligibility certification. These violations were mainly the result of errors and
delays in processing eligibility for 42 student-athletes. An example of this would
be a player practicing, working-out, or playing in a game before eligibility certification
was complete.
For some teams and student-athletes, these violations will mean a vacation of the
results of past contests (all prior to this academic year). All current Nanook student-athletes
were eligible this academic year, and there were no competitive sanctions included
for this year’s wins, records, or championships.Ìý
I want to thank athletic director Brock Anundson and his dedicated team for more than
a year of hard work to improve and strengthen our athletics compliance processes.
The presence of these violations demonstrated to us that we needed more checks and
balances in our compliance system. We have identified and corrected the cause of the
violations and have increased training and compliance safeguards. I have confidence
in Brock and his leadership team, and in their commitment to maintaining that level
of excellence going forward.Ìý
Thank you for your support of your Alaska Nanooks, and thank you for choosing UAF.Ìý
— Dan White, chancellor
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