Report Near Completion in USC Tutor Investigation

A report detailing a two-month USC investigation into charges of improprieties in its Student-Athlete Academic Services program is scheduled to be turned over to the provost’s office next week, committee member Todd Dickey said Tuesday.

As it completes the final few follow-up interviews, the committee is writing the report, which will detail its findings and make some recommendations, Dickey said.

The only NCAA violation reported so far during the investigation was the improper assistance football player Mike Bastianelli received from SAAS administrator Kit Cairney on a paper two years ago. Bastianelli served a two-game suspension.

Much of the committee’s time has been spent untangling personnel issues between Cairney, who is on paid administrative leave after being accused of making racist remarks, and Assistant Director Janice Henry. Cairney and tutor Noel Looney have charged that Henry oversaw unethical conduct in her supervisory role. Henry has refused to comment.

The committee also focused on accusations by Cairney and Looney that another tutor, Raven Viltz, improperly assisted standout receiver R. Jay Soward on a paper. Soward has repeatedly denied the charges and the professor who taught the course said he’d had no concerns about Soward’s work.

Though the committee was alarmed by a former tutor’s allegation that three athletes offered her money to write papers for them, she later told the committee those players eventually performed the work themselves under her supervision and that she believes the offers were at least partially in jest.