By Milena Evtimova

The NCAA has released the final verdict regarding the ineligibility of some Oberlin College athletes from two years ago. OC athletes, some of them no longer in the College, are punished for misunderstanding of the NCAA requirements and regulations about full-time course load. Their scores were eliminated from the rankings.

The sanctions vary depending on whether the ineligibility occurred in an individual or team sport. If an athlete participated in individual sport all the scores are eliminated. If, however, the athlete was part of a team and played on the day when he or she was not eligible, then the score is nullified and Oberlin forfeits the game. There are not that many such cases though, Director of Athletics Vin Lananna, said.

“A student has to be enrolled for 12 credits,” Lananna said. “What happened was never an attempt to manipulate the rules, just misunderstanding between the College and NCAA.”

“In Oberlin we followed the spirit of the rules, but not by the letter,” he added. “Now we follow both the spirit and the letter.”

The changes did not affect the Oberlin standings significantly. According to Lananna, Oberlin was not victorious in most of the affected games. The only major changes happened in the system that allows athletes to verify eligibility.

Now all athletes are told of the rules and are advised always to add before they drop classes. The Registrar’s Office also sends a daily report for every student athlete so that the coaches can keep track of their players’ course load at any time.

“There is probably no athletic office without mistake and this was only a secondary mistake,” Lananna said.

The full report is available in President Nancy Dye’s office but has not been released to the public.

President Dye was not available for comment.