Rider Grade Is Called Pre-Set : Academics: Grading form for UNLV’s top player came with “C” written in, instructor says.

LAS VEGAS — A community college instructor says she was going to give Nevada Las Vegas basketball star J.R. Rider an incomplete in a summer class until she was given a form by a college official with a “C” already written in for the player.

Vicki Bertolino said she added a minus sign to the grade and sent it back because she felt pressured by college officials to give Rider a passing grade.

If Rider had gotten an incomplete, he would not have earned enough makeup credits to be eligible this season. He is second in the nation in scoring with a 29.2-point average.

Bertolino said she issued the grade despite reservations about whether Rider actually wrote his own papers, at least three of which had his given first name, Isaiah, spelled incorrectly.

Bertolino was Rider’s instructor for a freshman English correspondence course at the Community College of Southern Nevada’s Nellis Air Force Base branch. She said Rider had not completed half the course work and she was going to give him an incomplete until she received a telephone call from Rossye Carroll, the college’s assistant to the dean at Nellis.

“He called and said I had to give a grade because they were being called” by UNLV officials, Bertolino said.

Carroll denied charges by Bertolino that he sent her a form with a grade already marked in.

“I didn’t do anything like that,” Carroll said.

UNLV officials said Thursday that they had investigated Rider’s eligibility and were satisfied he had completed and received proper grades.

Bertolino said Thursday that she felt pressured into giving a grade by repeated phone calls from UNLV compliance officer Jaina Preston and UNLV basketball administrative assistant Tom Pecora. She said she was called repeatedly, including in the hospital room of her husband, who had suffered a heart attack.