The following is a press release by Tom Havron, Fort Scott Community College Vice President of Student Affairs addressing a recent complaint on the eligibility of a football student athlete.
On October 15, 2019, Fort Scott Community College (FSCC) was contacted by the national office at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) regarding a formal complaint from a non-conference school that had been filed regarding the eligibility of a student-athlete on the FSCC football team.
Further investigation confirmed that FSCC had obtained a release and a transfer tracking form for the student, but was lacking a transfer waiver form which results in a violation of NJCAA by-laws.
On October 18th, FSCC obtained the signed form and the student will be eligible to play for the remainder of the season.
The ruling from the NJCAA is in the appeal process, and the college has no further information.
This was an honest, administrative error that the coaches and player had no knowledge. There was no malicious intent to violate NJCAA by-laws, and there was no benefit for the team to not acquiring the form. FSCC is committed to refining the eligibility process to ensure that this type of event never occurs again.
FSCC will not have a final ruling on whether some games will be forfeited until the appeal is completed, everything is still under review, according to Kassie Fugate-Cate, FSCC Director of Strategic Communications and Student Activities.