By Ellen Rugeley
Glen Hedden, who served as Kean University’s athletic director for 22 years, was fired after the NCAA began investigating alleged rule violations at the school in late April. Hedden reported violations both early and midway through the season and each time made an internal recommendation to suspend the player(s) involved and suggested that by self-reporting the violations they could mitigate any punishment from the NCAA.
Hedden took Kean athletics from obscurity to national notoriety by doubling the number of its sports programs. He also developed a master plan for the improvement of the university’s athletic facilities, including the completion of the Kean Alumni stadium and the Harwood Arena. Despite that performance, Hedden was still exposed when NCAA rule violations were uncovered and reported to the NCAA.
Last winter, Hedden claimed that coach Michele Sharp, a history professor, and two of his superiors were involved with creating a spurious class for nine women’s basketball players and changing grades so the team’s best player could maintain the mandatory 2.0 GPA needed to play.
In a memo sent December 7 to Philip Connelly, Kean’s executive vice-president of operations, Hedden stated that “when dealing with NCAA rules and regulations, it’s in the best interest of an institution to be proactive when there is a suspicion of an infraction.” Hedden added, “If we wait until the NCAA recommends sanctions, they could be very harsh, much harsher then what we will offer.”
According to a complaint filed by Hedden in the Superior Court of New Jersey, the fraudulent class, entitled “History of Spain,” was created on September 22, 2010 well after the semester had commenced and the add/drop period had ended. The class also violated university regulations for minimum class size, and two of the enrolled players had another class scheduled at the same time. The class further violated university regulations by not charging the enrolled players tuition, registration fees or late fees.
On January 4, 2011 Hedden met with Connelly to discuss the fraudulent class, and cited at least five reasons why the class violated university and NCAA regulations.
Connelly claimed that any problem with the NCAA was Hedden’s fault. He believed Hedden should ‘take the hit’ because of his alleged lack of supervision. Hedden defended himself by claiming that coach Sharp never told him about the course being developed. “How would I know if no one told me,” said Hedden.
Later that day, Hedden learned that a woman’s basketball player’s GPA had fallen below the required 2.0 because an “incomplete” grade had changed to an “F” because she failed to complete her assignments and as a result became ineligible to play. However, that same day, Hedden discovered that the “F” grade had unexplainably changed back to an “incomplete”, thus restoring the player’s eligibility; the next day she scored 13 points in a game and played the most minutes for the team.
Hedden began investigating the player’s grade change in the afternoon of January 4, 2011. He found that Mark Lender, an upper level management employee, had changed the player’s grade without the knowledge or consent of the professor of the course. On January 5, the professor “reiterated and insisted that the player received an ‘F’ notwithstanding Lerner’s fraudulent intervention.”
On January 7, 2011 Hedden reported the violation and fraudulent grade change to Connelly. He said, “[This] appears to circumvent the spirit of all NCAA eligibility and rules for fair play… Therefore, in the spirit of fair play, I propose Kean University self-reports to the NCAA an eligibility infraction.” Lender waited until January 6 to instruct Ken Wolpin, university registrar, to change the grade back to an “F.”
Violations at the D-3 level are uncommon. After reporting them to officials, Hedden claimed that the university did nothing, but stonewall and marginalize him. Hedden also claimed that despite his objections, “the university continued to engage in fraudulent activity… to ensure that the player would be able to play basketball.”
On January 10, 2011, an hour after receiving an email from the ineligible woman’s basketball player asking for a grade improvement, professor Frank Argote-Freyre, who was also involved in the “History of Spain” fraud, changed the player’s grade from a C+ to a B+ so she could be eligible again. “Connelly was advised by email of this proposed grade by Wolpin,” and despite objections from Hedden, Connelly “ordered the grade change,” and “refused Hedden’s recommendation to suspend the player.”
Connelly admitted that, “athletes having their grade changed is not an infrequent event.”
In an email sent to Hedden from Lender, Lender said that he had taken “personal offense” to the accusations and claimed that had he been contacted he “could have put the lie to the accusations (which, as I understood them, are malicious and absurd).” Lender said that he would be communicating his “extreme displeasure over this matter to the president and to Vice President Connelly.”
Earlier this summer, Hedden, who is represented by Keyport-based attorney David Corrigan, filed a 19-page wrongful termination suit against the school and executive VP Connelly under the Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA), which protects employees from adverse employment actions resulting from ‘whistle blowing.’
According to a statement issued by the school’s PR department, Hedden was terminated, “for failing to fulfill his professional responsibilities as athletic director and as the key university official responsible for overseeing compliance.” It is believed that Connelly and the university will argue in court that Hedden’s charges are merely accusations of a disgruntled employee who lacked oversight.
However, Corrigan said he has turned over e-mails to the NCAA that corroborate the discussions between Hedden and his superiors, and the NCAA confirmed the receipt of violation notices from Hedden on Dec. 5 and Feb. 9.
The university named Chris Morgan as its new director of athletics, who began his tenure on Sept. 1.
