Emory & Henry College let a booster and a trustee help package financial aid for two football players and considered athletic talent in awarding $80,000 in scholarships to 27 athletes in 9 sports, the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III Committee on Infractions ruled in punishing the Virginia college last week. NCAA investigators and college officials agreed on the findings, as part of the association's summary disposition process. Division III members of the NCAA are not supposed to take athletics criteria into account in awarding financial aid. And the review found that the institution had increased the aid awards to two prospective football players because of outside pressure from the trustee and donor, respectively.
The nine teams that contain athletes who received inappropriate aid are barred from postseason competition for one year, and the football team will be forced to vacate wins in which the two ineligible players participated.