Self-Reporting Secondary Violations

By definition, a secondary violation is one that is isolated or inadvertent in nature, provides or is intended to provide only a minimal recruiting, competitive or other advantage and does not include any significant recruiting inducement or extra benefit.  Most secondary cases are self-reported (either by the institution or through a conference office).  All secondary violations must be reported to the enforcement staff.  Beginning August 1, 2004, however, a new reporting process goes into effect.  

The new secondary infractions reporting process divides secondary violations into two levels: Level I and Level II.  

Level I secondary violations will continue to be reported to and processed by the enforcement staff as they occur and are discovered.  In addition, Level I violations may affect the eligibility of the invovled prospective or enrolled student-athletes, so reinstatement of eligibility should be sought if appropriate.

The enforcement staff has identified by bylaw cite several specific violations that will be classified as Level I.  In addition to those specified, Level I violations include:  Any intentional violations; any similar violations that previously have occurred in the same sport during that same year; and any violations not isolated or limited to a single occurrence.  These limitations are necessary to try to ensure that only violations that would be considered secondary are identified by institutions and conferences as Level II.

To limit the number of violations classified as Level I, some violations that potentially could have serious consequences were classified as Level II violations.  However, by limiting the general circumstances under which these violations would be considered Level II (e.g., only inadvertent violations can be Level II; all intentional violations are Level I), and by requiring specific actions to be taken by institutions in response to some Level II violations, most concerns have been addressed while still potentially reducing the volume of secondary cases processed by a significant amount.

Level II secondary violations will be processed by the institutions and/or their conferences.  On an annual basis, each institution or conference will submit to the enforcement staff a violations report listing all Level II secondary violations that occurred during the year and the penalties imposed.  Although the staff will review the annual reports, no formal processing of these reports will occur.  In addition, Level II violations will not require institutions to seek reinstatement of eligibility for any involved student-athletes.

All inadvertent, isolated violations of the operating bylaws (Bylaws 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17) not listed as Level I violations are considered to be Level II violations.  All Level II violations will be either de minimis (do not affect eligibility) or restitution (eligibility reinstated upon repayment of the value of the impermissible benefit to a charity, but no need to go through the formal reinstatement process).  As mentioned above, some Level II violations will require institutions to take certain prescribed actions in response to the violations.  The required actions are necessary to eliminate the recruiting/competitive advantage gained by the institution and/or to protect the health, safety or well-being of student-athletes.  If an institution believes that the circumstances are such that the prescribed action is not appropriate, it may submit the violation to the staff for processing with an explanation as to why relief from the prescribed action should be provided.  For Level II violations for which no prescribed actions are required, institutions and/or conferences should take whatever corrective and/or punitive actions they believe are appropriate in response to the violations.

With respect to conference involvement, the level of involvement in the process will be left up to each individual conference.  As a result, institutions should check with their conference offices to determine whether their conference is requiring a specific reporting procedure.  For example, some conferences may require their member institutions to report all violations (both Level I and Level II) to the conference office as the violations occur.  The conference office would then forward the annual violations reports of Level II violations to the enforcement staff on the institutions' behalf.  Other conferences may require that Level II violations be reported to the conference, and that the conference be copied on Level I violation reports.  Still other conference offices may require only that they be copied on Level I reports, as well as the annual Level II violations reports.

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