Lyndon State College is facing National Collegiate Athletic Association sanctions for improperly awarding sports leadership scholarships up until last spring.NCAA rules prohibit Division III schools from awarding any sports-related scholarships.
Dr. Elaine Collins, president of Lyndon State College, says the school is working with the NCAA to rectify the situation.
“Currently we are reviewing it," she says. "We are having some internal investigations. It’s going fine. The sanctions will not be released until Jan. 1 of 2018."
Eleven affected students were told they need to do 50 hours of community service or make a donation of the amount of the scholarship to a charity of their choice. Other students were able to prove they were eligible for the leadership scholarship outside of sports.
"Our concern about our students is foremost right now, and the students did absolutely nothing wrong," Collins says. "This is totally an institutional problem, and we are correcting it as an institution."
Collins says the administration has changed its processes to ensure the problem won’t occur again. Meanwhile, Lyndon is also under a minor five-year NCAA probation for not meeting sport sponsorship rules during the last school year.
Correction 4:10 p.m. 9/21/17 An earlier version of this story stated eleven students were told they need to do 50 hours of community service to retain their scholarships. The text was changed to clarify that students were given a choice of community service or repaying the amount of the scholarship to a charity of their choice.
