KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) - The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association has announced sanctions against a college’s athletic programs following the NCAA’s discovery last year of violations regarding sports and financial aid.
The MIAA Presidents’ Council voted Thursday to apply the sanctions on Kalamazoo College, an NCAA Division III school in southwest Michigan.
Kalamazoo College teams are expected to vacate their conference regular season wins and championships, as well as postseason wins in all sports from academic years 2012-2013 through 2015-2016.
The school is also banned from any conference postseason competition for the upcoming school year.
An NCAA investigation in 2016 found infractions involving the awarding and monitoring of financial aid as well as recruitment processes.
The NCAA prohibits schools to link athletics with financial aid in any way, but Kalamazoo College considered an applicant’s extracurricular activities, including athletics, when determining the amount of financial aid the student would receive. Consequently, the school was found noncompliant.
“The MIAA presidents and I worked diligently throughout this academic year to determine firm, yet fair sanctions that communicate to our members, and the entire NCAA Division III community, that NCAA financial aid infractions of this magnitude will not be tolerated,” said Penny Allen-Cook, MIAA’s commissioner, in a press release.
College official Kate Worster said the school wasn’t purposely violating rules and later corrected the violations.
“Kalamazoo College fully accepts the sanctions from the NCAA,” Worster said. “We broke the rules. We corrected the mistakes that we made, and we’re terribly sorry for the student athletes, and the impact this situation has had on them.”
Individual athletes who participate in cross country, swimming and diving will be allowed to participate in the conference meets and championship events for MIAA individual honors.
“We are confident in Kalamazoo college’s leadership and commitment to a high standard of compliance with both the NCAA and the MIAA,” Allen-Cook said. “As the oldest and most stable DIII conference in the country, the MIAA and our membership will work toward mending bridges that will continue to enhance and solidify the MIAA.”
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