The independent investigation into Binghamton's troubled men's basketball program will take extra steps to make sure that anybody with information about it has access to the lead investigator, the chairman of the State University of New York (SUNY) system board of trustees told an executive committee meeting Tuesday.That should come as welcome news to one of the key figures in the ever-growing scandal. Sally Dear, an adjunct professor of human development at Binghamton, said in an e-mail Monday night that at that point, she had not been contacted by nor spoken to anybody involved in any of the investigations connected to the basketball program.
Since last spring, when she was quoted in a New York Times article critical of the Binghamton program, Dear had accused athletic department officials of trying to get her to alter her grading system in favor of the basketball players in her classes. She was fired under questionable circumstances Sept. 29, then had the firing rescinded three days later as the latest investigation was announced.
Retired New York State chief justice Judith Kaye was brought in by SUNY chancellor Nancy Zimpher Oct. 8 to oversee the outside investigation into the Binghamton program. The team, which won the America East regular-season and tournament titles to qualify for its first NCAA tournament last season, currently is operating with an interim head coach, appointed by an interim athletic director and began preseason practice last week with seven scholarship players after six were kicked off the team late last month for various rules violations -- including one player's arrest on drug charges.
Carl Hayden, chairman of the SUNY board, told his fellow trustees Tuesday that he could not say how long the investigation might last, only that it would "proceed expeditiously'' and that "we will impose upon it no artificial time constraints.'' That means that interim head coach Mark Macon -- promoted from assistant when Kevin Broadus was placed on indefinite leave last Wednesday after admitting a recruiting violation -- is all but certain to be still in place for Binghamton's season opener at Pittsburgh Nov. 17.
Three of last year's starters and leading scorers, Emanuel Mayben, D.J. Rivera and Malik Alvin, as well as two new arrivals and a former walk-on, were dismissed on consecutive days late last month. Mayben had recently been arrested on drug charges. Broadus had been accused of compromising the academic reputation of the school and conference, by recruiting players with troublesome backgrounds who later got into academic and legal trouble.
" What they did to me, as far as I'm concerned, are intimidation and pressure tactics. To [be asked to] change my grading policies in favor of those basketball players -- I'd never gotten a call from any sport or any coaches. I've never had any problems with my other athletes, just those basketball players."
- Sally DearZimpher, the former president at the University of Cincinnati, told the trustees that the investigation had her full support, then added: "I want to assure the board that going forward, the State University of New York stands for the highest degree of integrity in its collegiate athletics programs, and underscore that we refer to our athletes as student-athletes for a good reason.''
Kaye and members of her investigative team have visited campus already and spoken to athletic department members and other potential witnesses, Hayden said; they will return next week for another round of interviews and inspections of pertinent documents. Hayden said that two of the highest priorities in the probe are to make sure evidence is secured and safeguarded and that witnesses are allowed to interact with investigators freely, without any outside pressure.
"To that end, they will be creating an email access route,'' Hayden said, "which will be available to any members of the Binghamton community, or people outside of the Binghamton community, for the purposes of establishing an independent mechanism for communication.''
Last week, after her reinstatement, Dear said of the incidents with the athletic department officials -- including Broadus, who she said once walked uninvited into her class, stood in the back as she taught, and then left without speaking -- "What they did to me, as far as I'm concerned, are intimidation and pressure tactics. To [be asked to] change my grading policies in favor of those basketball players -- I'd never gotten a call from any sport or any coaches. I've never had any problems with my other athletes, just those basketball players.''
The Binghamton graduate and Ph.D candidate has taught at the university for 11 years, but now says that she feels unsafe on campus and in her department, where the dean (whom she has described as a supporter of the basketball program) and others have openly shunned her. She also said that as a non-tenured faculty member, she is unsure whether her concerns will be taken seriously, and about whether she will be allowed to return to teaching there once the investigation is over.
The attempts to make exceptions for the players, as well as the negative implications of the firing itself, Dear said, are "an assault on my academic integrity and my academic freedom, not to mention my character.''
Mayben's Sept. 23 arrest set off a chain of events that led to, in order, his and his five teammates' dismissal; the reassignment of athletic director Joel Thirer, replaced by James Norris; Dear's firing and reinstatement; chancellor Zimpher's announcement of an investigation and then its hand-off to Kaye, the outsider; and Broadus' paid leave and replacement by Macon.
Hayden told the board of trustees that he and Kaye are satisfied so far with the cooperation of school and athletic department officials, including school president Lois DeFleur, who championed the push to Division I in 2001 and was a regular at courtside throughout last season's run to the NCAAs. He also said he understood that neither the NCAA nor the America East conference plans any investigations until Kaye's probe is complete.
