For the Record 11.20.13

POWER INFLUENCE

INTELLECT THE GAME CHANGERS WHO MOVE UC FORWARD

INSIDE

ISSUE NO. 27 • NOV. 20 - 26, 2013 • POWERFUL PEOPLE ISSUE

THE DIVERSITY CHAMPION PG 4 THE STUDENTS’ ADVOCATE PG 5 THE ATHLETIC ENFORCER PG 8

POWERFUL PEOPLE ISSUE WEDNESDAY, NOV. 20, 2013 / PAGE 2

Kara Driscoll @kardadri @pdidion

SPORTS EDITOR

Joshua Miller @josh_tnrsports Jake Grieco @Rosewater_Eliot

ARTS EDITOR NEWS EDITOR

Ryan Hoffman @ryanhoffman3 Emily Begley @egbegley

COLLEGE LIFE EDITOR PHOTO EDITOR

Phil Didion

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

THE

ASK

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ARTICLE IN THIS TABLOID?

ONE FACULTY MEMBER OR ADMINISTRATOR YOU ADMIRE AT UC?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE POWERFUL?

CAN YOU THINK OF ANYONE IN POWER WHO SHOULDN’T BE ADMIRED?

HOW DO YOU PLAN ON TAKING OVER THE WORLD AND ASSERTING YOUR POWER?

Probst’s journey is admirable as is Abercrumbie’s committment to UC.

We just did a whole series on powerful women who run UC. Those are female leaders everyone should admire.

Truly powerful people don’t have to tell people they have power. They quietly work to make great things happen.

Probably Voldemort, right? Definitely Voldemort.

With grace, intellect, beauty and aggression.

Kidding. Ugh. I don’t want the world. I just want to write for a newspaper.

The profile of DAAP Dean Robert Probst is pretty interesting.

Thomas Aicher in the Sport Administration Department has always been someone I’ve enjoyed having as a professor. He doesn’t baby kids like a lot of professors at UC do.

At this point, I’d settle for the ability to control my own life. I don’t need any more power than that.

Anyone that has chosen national politics as a career.

I’d like to become a Batmanesque super hero and hang out with Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine. Then I will use my popularity to win political power.

The Q & A with Richard Hess. He is a really fascinating guy who is involved with theater all over the world.

I am a huge admirer of professor John Kamholtz.

He’s passionate about the material he teaches and brilliant. We’re lucky to have him here at UC.

I think to be powerful means to be inspirational.

If people are moved by what you say or do that is the greatest power of all.

I don’t know too much about her, but I’m not sure about this Queen B.

The only way I will ever take over the world is in RISK. In RISK, I usually stack my troops in Australia until I have a huge force.

Robert Probst is definitely a cool dude, but I think if you have to respect Eric Abercrumbie and everything he has done.

Dave Niven in the Political Science Department is one of my favorites, but based on my attendance, he would probably question that.

I have no idea.

Kim Jong Un. Anyone who can spend more than five minutes with Dennis Rodman is clearly unstable.

I would never, repeat never, want that kind of responsibility.

I love the article about the LGBTQ Center.

Director Leisan Smith has an intricate history at the University of Cincinnati, and the work the center does is inspiring.

Jenny Wohlfarth has had a major impact on my career as a journalist, and I’ve learned so much from her. I’m truly appreciative to her and all of the professors I’ve had at UC.

Being powerful means being a leader. Someone is only powerful if he or she exerts their influence in a helpful and positive way.

I agree with Kara.

Voldemort really does suck.

Hmmm... I’m a pretty big procrastinator, so that plan is still in the works.

Robert Probst was an awesome guy to sit down and talk with. I’m glad that he’s a part of the leadership at UC.

Sean Hughes. He brought me into photojournalism and he puts up with me.

To have a positive influence on people that inspire them to grow and better themselves and the community they live in.

Michael Bay, destroyer of childhood dreams. They shouldn’t let that man anywhere near a camera.

Top secret. Check out the “Phil Takes Over” edition of TNR coming out in two weeks.

EDITORS

Voldemort sucks.

POWERFUL PEOPLE ISSUE / WEDNESDAY, NOV. 20, 2013 / PAGE 3

LGBTQ Center director talks transforming campus culture

PROVIDED

LGBTQ Center director Leisan Smith and University of Cincinnati students participate in National Coming Out Day activities in 2012.

Leisan Smith discusses growth, accomplishments at University of Cincinnati KELSEY KENNEDY STAFF REPORTER

Leisan Smith, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Center, sat comfortably, legs folded and fingers laced, as she boasted pride for her alma mater.

“I am a proud product of the University of Cincinnati,” she said.

Originally from Columbus, Smith was drawn to UC by a former admissions program for African American students, Images of Color. After exploring campus she quickly fell in love with the school that unbeknownst to her, would hire her in 2010.

Smith received a bachelor’s in communications and worked in the African American Cultural & Resource Center during her undergraduate career. After graduation, she worked with student affairs for about a year before pursuing the educational field.

Smith then came back to UC to get her master’s in educational foundations and a graduate certificate in women’s studies. While working on her degree, she was a graduate assistant in the Women’s Center, which provided two very separate experiences for her.

“I always make sure to talk about my undergrad experience, where I was basically living in the African American Cultural & Resource Center, and my graduate experience, where I was basically living in the Women’s Center,” Smith said. “Those were both so different for

me, but still important in terms of my identity and the work that I do here in the LGBTQ Center.”

LGBTQ and social justice issues were personal for Smith.

“I didn’t start coming out until the end of my undergrad,” Smith said. “After becoming more comfortable with who I was and had that support from the Women’s Center, it was a totally different experience for me. The support I had at the African American Cultural & Resource Center was there, but around a different identity.”

Smith expressed the lack of space she felt for both her and other LGBTQ students. Before the LGBTQ Center existed, students felt there was a need for a more physical and professional space to discuss issues focused primarily on gender and sexuality.

“I felt so split between the two centers,” Smith said. “I thought to myself, how can I help students be able to better live all of their identities?”

Smith likes to team up in support with the other centers on her floor, including the Women’s Center and Ethnic Programs and Services.

“In terms of student affairs, I think we’ve come a long way in trying to support the whole student and really looking at intersectionality,” Smith said. “Even though this is the LGBTQ Center and we focus on gender and sexuality, we try not to exclude the experiences folks of color have. We want students to be their whole selves.”

The LGBTQ Center, which is in its third year of operation, works and collaborates with the other centers on campus. Students, with the help of faculty, took the proposal for a LGBTQ Center forward and made it happen. In January 2012, the center upgraded from a small space on the sixth floor of Steger Student Life Center to a large office.

“My favorite thing about working in the LGBTQ

Center would probably be the students. I love my students,” she said. “They make coming to work easier.

They make working hard easier.”

The center now has a director, program coordinator, graduate assistant, undergrad student worker and many informal volunteers.

“We’ve all tried to work on making students feel like they can float between the different spaces we offer,” Smith said. “I wish more people knew the importance of having a space for LGBTQ students and their allies. The work we do here is important,” Smith said.

The Campus Pride 2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People Report found that LGBQ students were significantly more likely to experience harassment than their heterosexual counterparts and were seven times more likely to indicate harassment was based on sexual identity, according to the LGBTQ Center. Additionally, LGBQ respondents more frequently seriously considered leaving their educational institution for fear of their physical safety.

The LGBTQ Center is not only a space for students, but a resource as well. Staff and students focus on different kinds of training. A particular emphasis is placed on Safe Zone training, a program that trains and educates students on the positive role social justice allies have in developing a sense of community without hate or discrimination. Instead of lecturing at participants, they turn the program into more of a dialogue.

Smith, who helps lead Safe Zone trainings, said the program is very rewarding for her.

“It’s always good to see that light bulb go off in participants,” Smith said. “Hopefully, they take what they’ve learned back to the classroom, the workplace or a student organization. It trickles across campus, and that’s how we create a culture of change.”

PROVIDED

University of Cincinnati students show pride and support during the Cincinnati Pride Parade. The LGBTQ Center provides students of all sexual orientations and gender identities important resources while enhancing understanding and acceptance on campus.

POWERFUL PEOPLE ISSUE WEDNESDAY, NOV. 20 / PAGE 4

Much progress in forty-one years, still more to go

LAUREN KREMER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Eric Abercrumbie has spent the past 41 years furthering diversity initiatives at the University of Cincinnati. Even with all the adversity he said he loves his job and the students.

Diversity director recounts challenging journey, encourages open dialogue CASSIE MERINO STAFF REPORTER

Eric Abercrumbie has been through many ups and downs during his 41 years at the University of Cincinnati but he still says UC is where he belongs.

“I don’t even look for another job. I’ve always loved the institution that much,” Abercrumbie said.

Abercrumbie, now the executive director of diversity and communicative relations for Student Affairs, has worked his way through many faculty positions since joining UC’s staff in 1972.

His office desk is stacked high with campus engagements and his dry erase board is full of scribbles of current ethnic events. His days usually consist of

speaking to students, attending meetings and being the face of diversity at UC. He also teaches a course called “The Black Man in U.S. Society.”

“It has been a dynamic experience to work with Doc [Abercrumbie],” said Ewaniki Moore-Hawkins, director of the African American Cultural Resource Center.“His influence in my life began when I entered the university in 1997 as a freshman. He is a true motivator and set the example to be an advocate for others, especially our students of color.”

Abercrumbie said in order to understand him and how he got to where he is today you have to understand his background.

He got his first taste of racism at a young age while he was growing up in small town in Kentucky.

“Because of the color of my skin [I] had to go 44 miles round trip to go to school,” Abercrumbie said.“That really started my

journey into understanding … It really taught me and gave me the skills to be able to work and play and challenge people different than me.”

Abercrumbie describes the beginning of his journey as being “the only one.”

“First black male in Cub Scouts, only one.

First black male in Boy Scouts, only one.

First black male in basketball, only one,” Abercrumbie said.

Sometimes when you think of the segregation it seems hard to grasp today, but Abercrumbie said he knew it too well growing up.

“The same people I played basketball with and went to school with I couldn’t go to [a] show and sit with them, I had to sit upstairs. I couldn’t go to the skating rink, that’s why I can’t skate today. I couldn’t go to the pool hall, and that’s why I can’t play pool today,”Abercrumbie said.

He credits his education, religion and

community for helping him get to where he is today.

Abercrumbie came to UC as a residence counselor after getting his degree from Eastern Kentucky University, where he said he experienced systematic oppression.

At UC, he moved from counselor to a position in special services and then minority affairs, where he became director of Ethnic Programs and Services in 1987.

“Doc has contributed so much to the UC community,” Moore-Hawkins said.

“He has brought UC national attention with the creation of such programs as The Black Man Think Tank, the Tyehimba (Afrocentric Graduation Celebration) and the AACRC Choir. He was also instrumental in the founding and the direction of the AACRC for its first 21 years of existence.”

But Abercrumbie’s time at UC hasn’t been free of scrutiny, he said. At one point in his time at UC he was a target and people wanted him gone, but as Abercrumbie said,“Out of something bad always comes something good.”

Recent events on campus have sparked an open debate on race and diversity, which Abercrumbie said he encourages.

“Doc is well respected and revered by students. A lot of the students connected to the AACRC and EPS look to him as a father figure. They value his advice and his past experiences,” Moore-Hawkins said.

Abercrumbie said he was pleased with the recent student-organized town hall meeting because students were able to speak up and that he has faith President Santa Ono and Provost Beverly Davenport will successfully meet goals outlined in the university’s diversity plan.

“They got to say what they wanted to say and no one stopped them from doing what they wanted to do,” he said.“I do trust Dr. Ono and Dr. Davenport’s leadership. I know they are concerned about this.”

He said he is glad students aren’t working against each other like he said they were in earlier years and the university is improving. But it still has a ways to go.

“If we’re truly family we can’t just be a family at the basketball games and the football games,”Abercrumbie said.“That can’t be the only place we celebrate our diversity.”

POWERFUL PEOPLE ISSUE / WEDNESDAY, NOV. 20, 2013 / PAGE 5

DAAP dean reflects on thirty-year career at UC Dean left stable job in Germany to try teaching, never looked back BRYAN SHUPE CHIEF REPORTER

In 1978, Robert Probst left a comfortable design job in Germany to travel to the United States in hopes of becoming a professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture and Art — a position he planned on filling for one year.

Thirty-five years after his flight across the Atlantic Ocean, Probst is still at the college — now called the College of Design Architecture, Art and Planning — but he is no longer teaching. Probst has spent the past five years serving as dean of the college that boasts the third best design school in the world, according to a survey by a business and technology news website.

However, back in the ’70s, Probst had no idea he would become so embedded in the UC community.

“I had the best of both worlds. I had a preserved job [in Germany] that I could go back to and I had the opportunity to explore the world of higher education at the same time,” he said. “You have to understand, it is not just the career that leads you to the next stage in your life.”

By accepting the position at UC in the ’70s, he also accepted the challenge of teaching for the first time in his life.

Probst said at first he struggled with taking on the role of an educator because he had never lived in an English-speaking country, so the learning curve was pretty steep.

“I spent a ton of time in the library and prepared myself every night,” Probst said. “I had to work hard to be ahead of the students.

It was an adventure, but I looked at it as a design project nevertheless.”

Probst said he went as far as bringing his wife into the classroom to help him with the language barrier for the first six months.

Despite his lack of experience in education, it was his hands-on expertise that helped him rise to the top at DAAP. During his time at UC, Probst has taught a multitude of courses ranging from studio classes to seminars.

“Pretty much all of the courses that we have in the curriculum of the graphic communication design program, I have taught [at some point],” Probst said. “When I was promoted I went through just about every single position that you can go through in this institution. I started in the lowest rank and now I have the highest rank.”

After serving two terms as the director of the School of Design — the largest school in DAAP — he was appointed to interim dean in 2007, after former dean Judith Koroscik resigned. When the time came for a national search to fill the role, Probst submitted his application.

PHIL DIDION PHOTO EDITOR

Robert Probst came to UC from Germany more than 30 years ago to teach for the first time in his life. In 2008 he took over as dean of one of UC’s most prominent colleges.

He is now serving his second term as the dean of DAAP since 2008.

“I’m very grateful for this institution,” Probst said. “They have always given me the room and the freedom to research and teach in the most open environment, and I have always been able to enjoy the support of my superiors.”

Craig Vogel, DAAP associate dean, has worked with Probst for 10 years and said his level of experience in the field of design is second to none at UC. “His commitment to the college and the university is very impressive,” Vogel said. “His history here and how he’s used that to form a network on behalf of the university is also a really strong part of his ability to support and create new initiatives.”

Although the top tier of UC’s faculty has experienced much scrutiny as of late, Probst is pleased with the work of President Santa

Ono and recently appointed Provost Beverly Davenport.

“What better president name could you have,” Probst said. “Santa is leading us into the future.

I’m so happy to be Santa’s little helper.”

Probst said a more collaborative effort to link all UC colleges and advisers is essential.

“We have all these colleges here on campus and we just need to create networks and bridges between individual programs so that faculty and students learn, teach and study together,” he said.

The DAAP dean sees curriculum-based changes as an initiative for a more intersected network of colleges.

“I think we should loosen, a little bit, the requirements in each discipline so that our students have more opportunities to take extracurricular and cross-disciplinary experiences as part of their educational career

path,” Probst said.

What makes DAAP one of the world’s leading design schools is its inclusion of an assortment of multiple disciplines under one roof, Probst said. This feature, among others, has attracted attention from nearly every corner of the globe.

“We have faculty in this college, literally from every single continent,” Probst said. “So we have a very international group and even more international students on our graduate level right now.”

Though Probst said he has no idea what is in store for him in the future, he doesn’t plan on leaving Cincinnati any time soon.

“I’m passionately engaged in what’s going on right now [at UC],” Probst said. “I have no reason to look for another opportunity at another institution because it’s all happening here, right now. So I am very happy here.”

POWERFUL PEOPLE ISSUE / WEDNESDAY, NOV. 20, 2013 / PAGE 6

Twenty-one years behind scenes, CCM director talks drama Richard Hess attended UC for Master’s degree, never left NATALIE COLEMAN STAFF REPORTER

direct original pieces that I am going to have the African students write. And that’s on my mind because I am scared to death to go to Africa. It’s going to be a huge challenge and wonderful.

Do you have any fond moments from directing?

Can you describe your day during rehearsal? What’s the week of the show like?

I’ll use “The Crucible” because that is the last one I did. I love a moment when a student, that you remember coming in the door as a freshman, finds a piece of themselves that they never knew they could share through doing a production on stage. In the case of “The Crucible,” Joe Markesbery, who played John Proctor, he’s shy and introverted and putting John Proctor on his back made him have to stand up as a man and fight the world.

And I loved watching Joe find his voice.

What do you do when you’re not directing?

Here’s a fun one, on Jan. 2nd I am leaving for the second sabbatical of my life. I will be going to Nairobi, Kenya in East Africa.

I am going to work with actors and help

We rehearse six nights a week four hours a night. So that’s a 24-hour commitment on top of a full class load.You asked about the worst week of all, the week of the show. They work all day Saturday and Sunday in what are called tech rehearsals, and those are 10-hour days so there alone you put in 10 on Saturday, 10 on Sunday.

That’s when you add the costumes add the lights. Everything on the set is there, so for something like “The Crucible,” you’re working with chains instead of fake chains.You’re lifting real scenery to move for scene changes and the lights are changing and you’re really climbing up the hole in the floor instead of pretending.

The hours are enormous and then you do two dress rehearsal’s Monday and Tuesday

and then they open on Wednesday.

How do you see film acting and stage acting as similar? How are they different? And which one takes more talent?

Neither one can be ranked first or second in talent, they are just very different — apples and oranges. We are a theaterbased training program and many of our students have great success in film and television. Both share the need for honesty and truth. Just how it is expressed is different. In the theater it’s expressed directly from yourself to an audience in the moment. In film you express it, and two other artists — the cinematographer and the director — capture it, and then they edit it and add music to it and augment your performance. Neither one is harder or better. They are just really different.

A stage actor can change their performance the next night and a film actor, once they say cut for the last time, if you have a great idea that next week, that scenes over, the end.

Provided

Richard Hess has been chair of the drama department at CCM for 20 years. He has never been an actor, which is rare for esteemed directors.

VP of student affairs keeps students at center of every decision Merchant working to promote strong relationships on campus NATALIE COLEMAN STAFF REPORTER

DAN SULLIVAN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Debra Merchant in her office in University Pavilion.

In her role as Vice President of Student Affairs at the University of Cincinnati, Debra Merchant works every day to create a memorable college experience for students by improving campus culture. And she seems to know exactly what she’s doing.

“My role is to ensure that at every level, we are putting students at the center of what we do,” Merchant said.

Merchant’s goal is to help students love UC, not only so they stay at the university throughout the duration of their college career, but also so they eventually become involved alumni.

She listens to what students want and figures out how to best honor their requests and needs in ways that best serve all members of the UC

community.

Merchant serves on Ono’s cabinet and reports to UC Provost Beverly Davenport. Although it’s rewarding, Merchant said her position isn’t always easy.

“We move at a glacial pace,” Merchant said. “There are so many times we know on day one what we need to do, when we should trust our gut, but sometimes we drag our feet.”

Right now, Merchant is working to promote stronger student-faculty relationships, engage professors in more active teaching and provide students the opportunity to skip classes below their skill sets.

“I’m trying to get students the ability to test out of classes to get to the end quicker and get more along the journey,” Merchant said. “This provides more flexibility and options for them to add a major. Students get that.”

She also is working to make UC more welcoming and inclusive, particularly following the recent racial tension that

has surfaced on campus.

“If we don’t use it to examine ourselves and make UC better, we have missed an opportunity,” Merchant said.

“I welcome the opportunity to engage in the hard conversations.”

She said any university that grows quickly has difficult moments, but that they can be beneficial.

“I think every organization, when its flaws are exposed, has the opportunity to improve,” Merchant said. “It is an opportunity for us to tell our story differently.”

Merchant, with other UC administrators, is hosting a discussion Wednesday at noon in the African American Cultural and Resource Center about racial tensions on campus to let students discuss how their UC experiences could be more inclusive.

For Merchant, it’s all about the students.

“My favorite part of this job is the students,” Merchant said. “No two are alike.”

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POWERFUL PEOPLE ISSUE / WEDNESDAY, NOV. 20, 2013 / PAGE 8

Compliance director protects UC’s reputation, athletes UC Associate AD of Compliance, Maggie McKinley, found niche in unique, challenging position JOSHUA MILLER SPORTS EDITOR

The most feared person in the University of Cincinnati Department of Athletics is not Director Whit Babcock.

More times than not, if there’s bad news to be delivered inside the Lindner Center it’s going to come from Maggie McKinley, senior associate athletic director of compliance and administration. McKinley is taxed with the task of making sure UC’s Athletic Department, and all who fall under its umbrella, stay in check.

“It’s funny, especially when we hire a new coach.

You walk into practice and it’s almost like everything stops,” McKinley said.“Oh my gosh, what’s wrong? What happened? We aren’t the evil empire type coming in the room, and it’s [not] always bad news. We try to praise people for doing the right thing as well.”

The burden of keeping UC from going through the kind of public embarrassments that have rocked Ohio State University, The University of Southern California University and — worst of all — Penn State University, is not one for the soft skinned.

As the enforcers and preventers of all things disciplinary within the athletic department, compliance officers have to be prepared to be the bad guy.

“If you are a person that needs to be liked by everyone, this is not the right field for you,” McKinley said.“You’re going to have kill-the-messenger types of situations and you have to be the one that always remains professional.

This is not news that people like, but we have to work through it together.”

McKinley, who ran track as a student athlete at UC, came to the university with no intention of working in compliance, originally studying in UC’s renowned College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning.

“I came here for the graphic design program,” McKinley said.“But I fell in love with psychology. I knew that I wanted to help student athletes as a career goal.”

In pursuit of a career working for the betterment of student athletes, McKinley attended graduate school at Xavier University but still had no inclination of working in compliance.

“I had built relationships with people here at Cincinnati, so I came back and asked to do a volunteer internship.”

McKinley said.“They said, ‘Absolutely, we’re going to stick you in this office.’ That office happened to be the compliance and student services office.”

Things snowballed from there for McKinley, who originally agreed to fill in for a departing intern as she neared the completion of her own 400-hour mandatory internship to complete her education at Xavier.

The internship quickly turned into a full-time position as a compliance assistant. Twelve years later, McKinley is running the show.

“I fell into it, but it’s a perfect fit for me and my personality,” she said.“I grew up thinking I wanted to be a

DAN SULLIVAN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

University of Cincinnati Senior Associate Athletic Director of Compliance and Administration Maggie McKinley.

lawyer or police officer, so it falls into the whole nature of enforcing the rules.”

McKinley oversees the day-to-day compliance operations of UC’s 19 intercollegiate athletic teams, more or less trying to prevent anyone from doing anything deemed wrong by the NCAA. “We’re the people that take the NCAA rulebook and try to educate everyone, implement things in order to enforce the rules, detect any occurrences and put in measures to rectify those deficiencies,” McKinley said. “We do everything from monitoring recruiting to working with the eligibility of our incoming student athletes all the way through their graduation.”

The compliance office also ensures that UC’s athletes are not being pushed past their limits, protecting their ability to succeed in academia before athletics.

“There are limits on how much [coaches] are allowed to require the athletes to do per week, because we need to make sure there’s that balance between being a student and being an athlete,” McKinley said.

For most universities, the most common compliance violations take place in recruiting, when schools contact recruits more times or for more hours than is allotted, or

when illegal benefits are provided to try and persuade athletes to join a program.

As highlighted by the Nevin Shapiro situation that continues to unfold at the University of Miami in Florida, it was revealed that Shapiro provided athletes and recruits illegal incentives that included, strippers, abortions and large sums of money, donor involvement has created an entirely different concern for compliance departments.

“These donors are so vested in their institutions that they want to do whatever will help those programs, that’s where it gets scary,” McKinley said.“What we try to do is get in front of those donors as much as possible and educate them about helping the school by making permissible donations to the school.”

Under McKinley’s compliance leadership, UC has been among the best universities in the nation at avoiding those types of situations.

A 2011 study revealed that nearly half of the 120 NCAA Division I football programs had committed major violations since 2001. UC was not one of the violators.

In fact, the only major violation that has occurred since McKinley took over the compliance department was a women’s basketball infraction in September 2011.

“It was isolated to one coach in one sport [women’s basketball], who, as soon as we discovered the violation, was terminated from his position and from the university,” McKinley said.“We self-detected it and self-reported it.”

Because UC was proactive in self-reporting the incident, which involved a significant violation in terms of the number of recruiting calls coaches are allowed to make, the NCAA handed down a very light punishment and the women’s basketball program is no longer on probation.

In an average year, UC commits 20 secondary violations (meaning that they were most likely inadvertent and were self-reported to the NCAA), McKinley said. Averaging out to roughly one violation a team per year, many universities would kill to have so few issues with NCAA violations.

“I would be scared if we weren’t detecting any,” McKinley said.“I think the NCAA would give you that same answer.

If you’re not reporting, you’re hiding something.”

But McKinley, like anyone in compliance, is always worried about the possibility of a highly publicized violation.

“Oh yeah, I dream about compliance,” McKinley said with a laugh.“It’s a stressful thing, but one of the things that helps relieve that is knowing that we are constantly evaluating ourselves.You can’t microchip everyone and monitor what they are doing.”

In addition to the normal procedures, McKinley reaches out to universities that have recently gone through highly publicized incidents in an effort to find out where they went wrong or what steps they wish they had taken to prevent their violations.

“We are here to try to ensure the welfare of our student athletes and to protect the institution,” McKinley said.“At the end of the day, think about the public damage that Miami and these other schools have gone through. They suffer. We’re not the enemy; we’re not the sheriffs. We’re here to be an integral part of making things run in the best way possible.”