Auburn investigates allegations

July 13, 2006

BILL SANDERS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Auburn University is investigating allegations that one of its professors improperly assigned grades to student-athletes, particularly football players, in 2004 and 2005.

School provost John Heilman said Thursday he commissioned the investigation on June 5 after an anonymous complaint was filed a month earlier.

"I can assure you as provost that academic misconduct will not be tolerated at Auburn University," Heilman said in a statement released by the university.

According to a report in the New York Times, the allegations center around Thomas Peete, the chairman of the school's sociology department, who reportedly offered "directed reading" courses that became a favorite of football players.

According to the complaint, the university said, "little or no work" was required of the football players to earn As.

Peete did not return phone calls to his home Thursday night. A woman who answered his phone said he was not available.

Auburn sports information director Kirk Sampson said no one in the athletics department, including football coach Tommy Tuberville, would comment on an ongoing investigation.

According to the Times story, the investigation began when professor James Gundlach noticed an Auburn athlete getting cited as a sociology scholar-athlete on a televised football game. Gundlach told the Times that neither he, nor the two other full-time sociology professors, remembered having the athlete in class.

Gundlach began looking into the matter and discovered that many Auburn athletes were getting high grades in Peete's class that required no attendance and little work. The class was available to non-athletes, as well. Peete told the Times he had shown no favoritism to the athletes.

Gundlach's own research showed 18 football players received an average GPA of 3.31 in Peete's classes and had 2.14 in other classes, the Times reported.

Several people with close ties to Auburn told the Journal-Constitution on Thursday they believe the complaint to be without merit.

Dacula's David Irons Sr., the father of Auburn football stars Kenny and David Irons, said he's seen first-hand how hard players work at academics.

"All the grades of the [athletes] were lower than the other students anyway," David Irons Sr. said. "David had the class last year and he said there was way too much hard work for there to be anything under the table. This is all a bunch of bull."

Irons said he goes to Auburn frequently to visit his sons and sees them — and teammates — coming in from study hall at 10 or 11 p.m.

"Coach Tub has them on tight shifts," Irons said. "These guys are all working too hard for something like this to be happening."

Jim Woods, father of Walton High star and Auburn recruit Bailey Woods, said the news hasn't caused his family to rethink the commitment to the Tigers.

"Auburn has done the right thing and come out and said, 'We are going to get to the bottom of it,' " Jim Woods said. "I'm pleased Auburn took care of their business. I am pleased the system worked. It is a black eye. When practice starts, this will be the furthest thing from anybody's mind."

John Douglas, an Auburn recruit from Augusta, said academics were emphasized when he visited campus.

"They stressed it a lot," he said. "They had good facilities for the student-athlete. I was real impressed with their academic support staff and the facilities for the athletes."

If something improper did occur, Auburn interim president Ed Richardson said the university would be open and up front with its findings.

"Over the past two years, Auburn has shown a willingness to address serious issues in a very open and direct manner," Richardson said in a statement. "... Auburn has been, and is, fortunate to have many dedicated instructors who, like us, will not tolerate academic misconduct."

This is not the first time Auburn's athletic integrity has come under fire. Since 1957, the school has been found guilty by the NCAA of seven major infractions, the most in the SEC.

—Staff writer Carter Strickland contributed to this article.