AUBURN, Ala., July 18 (UPI) -- The NCAA has said it will not take action against Auburn University athletes until the completion of an investigation into allegations of academic fraud.
NCAA President Miles Brand said the organization would allow Auburn University to complete its investigation into the allegations, which concern athletes using so-called directed-readings courses to keep their grade-point averages in the range acceptable to remain eligible for sports, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
"If there was abuse in the case, and I'm not sure that there is, if there was abuse, we would be sure to act," Brand said.
James Gundlach, director of Auburn's sociology department, has claimed that department Chairman Thomas Petee assigned large numbers of directed-reading classes, which involve very little work and no class time, to both athletes and non-athletes. Gundlach said Petee had run 152 such courses in a single semester.
"That's an institutional problem of some magnitude," Brand said. "It's not an athletics problem. It needs to be addressed on an institutional level."
