Do we really want to read the three hundred page transcript from “an October 2008 hearing in Indianapolis, attended by [Florida State University] President T.K. Wetherell, at which FSU and NCAA officials discussed the case involving 61 student-athletes who cheated, many in an online music class.“?
Some judge just ruled that the NCAA’s decision to hide the transcript from us is “clearly contrary to the broad interpretation given to the definition of public records in Florida courts and legislative language.”
So now UD will have to read – at least skim — at least read other writers’ excerpts from — a conversation about an instance of academic fraud so enormous that FSU has had to “vacate … 14 football victories from the 2006 and 2007 seasons and two national championships in men’s track and field.” Wetherell’s a clueless, sports-mad fool; the NCAA … well, you know.
It seems to UD that Florida has grotesquely overbroad notions of what’s in the public record. It’s in no one’s interest to have to read these men. I say keep it sealed.
August 21st, 2009 at 7:53AM
Au contraire. Speaking as someone who’s read every word of the audit of Jon Wefald’s presidency and all public filings in the Prince / Krause debacle at Kansas State, I find it’s exactly the petty details that let you get at what’s really going on. Trying to spin the big picture is relatively easy; the sordid details, like termites, eat away at the pretensions.
August 21st, 2009 at 7:57AM
Of course you’re right, Dave. Some part of me can’t wait to follow the twisting of every single termite.
August 21st, 2009 at 8:43AM
Part of it is my professional calling. Historians root around in lots of documents looking for juicy and illustrative details. If it weren’t for academia, I’d be going through celebrity trash as a tabloid reporter.
August 21st, 2009 at 8:46AM
LOL.