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Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Law - NCAA nixes Facebook sites wooing prospects
From the San Francisco Chronicle, an AP story by Justin Pope that begins:
College sports fans, be careful of the company you keep on Facebook.You might get yourself — and the program you support — in trouble.
That was the lesson this week for Taylor Moseley, a North Carolina State freshman who expressed a common-enough opinion on campus when he started the Facebook group called "John Wall PLEASE come to NC STATE!!!!"
More than 700 people signed up for the group encouraging Wall — a local standout and the nation's No. 1 basketball recruit — to pick the Wolfpack by national signing day next week.
But the NCAA says such sites, and dozens more like them wooing Wall and other top recruits, violate its rules. More than just cheerleading boards, the NCAA says the sites are an attempt to influence the college choice of a recruit.
Moseley got a cease and desist letter from N.C. State's compliance director, Michelle Lee, warning of "further action" if he failed to comply. In an interview Friday, Lee said that people who act as boosters but fail to follow recruiting guidelines could face penalties such as being denied tickets or even being formally "disassociated" from the athletic program.
Adam Kissel, director of the Individual Rights Defense Program at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said the NCAA can impose rules on its member colleges. But universities — especially public ones — can't enforce them if it means punishing students in any way for expressing an opinion.
"A student doesn't lose First Amendment rights because of a contract the university signs with (the NCAA)," he said.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 14, 2009 09:55 AM
Posted to General Law Related