USC’s Investigation Clears Academic Services Program

Trying to end questions surrounding a lengthy internal investigation of its Student Athlete Academic Services program, USC announced Thursday it found no evidence of systematic academic fraud and fired Christopher Cairney, the administrator who made the initial charges of impropriety.

Cairney was dismissed for allegedly using racial slurs at work and committing academic fraud himself by helping write an athlete’s paper, said interim university counsel Todd Dickey.

Cairney denies those charges.

In addition, USC has submitted a 61-page report to the Pacific 10 Conference in response to claims that athletes received assistance in violation of NCAA rules, as well as other ethical concerns raised by current and former tutors. The conference’s compliance and enforcement committee will decide whether to conduct an independent investigation or whether any NCAA penalties are appropriate.

Although the four-person USC committee, which interviewed 64 people and took six months to complete the study, concluded that there was “no pattern of academic fraud involving SAAS employees,” Dickey acknowledged Thursday that Cairney is the second person to be dismissed from the staff for an alleged NCAA violation.

Another unidentified employee “over-tutored” a female athlete on a paper in November 1997, and was either fired or given the option of resigning, Dickey said. The athlete also has left the university. USC would not release its report, citing privacy issues.

On another issue, Dickey said charges by Cairney and former tutor Noel Looney that football player R. Jay Soward received inappropriate assistance were not corroborated, and Soward is no longer under scrutiny on that issue.

Cairney--who had been on paid administrative leave as director of tutoring services since September--was called to a meeting Thursday morning that included Athletic Director Mike Garrett and Dickey, who headed the investigation, and told he was being terminated because USC’s affirmative action office concluded he had used racial slurs and because of a previously reported charge that he inappropriately assisted football player Mike Bastianelli on a paper during the 1995-96 school year. Bastianelli, who admitted receiving some improper help, served a two-game NCAA suspension.

“Any one of these forms of misconduct--racial slurs, academic fraud, lying to the Committee--would warrant discharge,” Garrett wrote in a two-page letter he handed to Cairney Thursday. “Taken together, they leave me no choice but to terminate your employment.”

Cairney complained he was not told who accused him of using racial slurs. USC would only say they included students and staff.

“These words are not part of my vocabulary,” Cairney said. “However, numerous student athletes have used these terms to describe each other in my presence. Maybe somebody thought I was saying it.”

At the heart of the dispute between Cairney and USC is the issue of motivation. USC claims Cairney wrote a lengthy memo alleging improprieties in the tutoring program only after he learned he was accused of making racist remarks. Cairney claims he was targeted because of his allegations.

“Why did they wait two years to nail me for this supposed academic fraud with Bastianelli? They’ve used it to discredit me,” Cairney said.

Dickey cited phone records and fax dates as evidence that Cairney’s charges against SAAS came after he was told Sept. 4 he was being relieved of his responsibilities, and accuses Cairney of backdating a memo to Sept. 2.

“He claims to be a whistle-blower when in fact it was not until his job was in jeopardy that he came forward with a whole host of allegations,” Dickey said.

Cairney said the Sept. 2 date on a memo faxed Sept. 27 was merely an updated version and that he had not revised the date, though Dickey said he has what is clearly an earlier draft faxed Sept. 16.

Cairney suggested the dispute is not over but said, “I think it’s best I not say anything right now.” His attorney did not return a phone message.

USC was embarrassed in 1996 by revelations that SAAS staff member Janice Henry enrolled two students in a class that required no course work and would provide an “easy A,” although no NCAA violations were committed.

In a four-page letter to the faculty dated Thursday, Provost Lloyd Armstrong Jr. acknowledged that case as one of “great concern throughout the university.” But he called Cairney’s allegations “unfounded” and his conduct “egregious.”

Though Dickey’s committee had been expected to make recommendations regarding the SAAS program, it did not. But Carolyn Webb de Macias, a senior associate provost who served on the committee, said another group coincidentally is considering whether an academic program should be run by the athletic department, a possible conflict of interest.

De Macias said the committee examined a wide array of issues, insisting the inquiry was fair.

“Protection was not the issue--of programs, or persons, etc.,” she said. “Our critical point was making sure we protected the academic integrity of the university.”