Brand vexed by athlete's punishment

IU President Myles Brand said this week he has asked two administrators to examine how the University handled the punishment of senior forward Rachael Honegger.\nHonegger pled guilty in October to forgery for embezzling about $13,000 from her employer, the Elletsville IGA, last summer. A Monroe County judge sentenced Honegger to three years in jail, but suspended all but six months of her sentence. She is also serving limited house arrest.\nBrand said he has concerns about the handling of Honegger's case, including a lack of communication between the athletic department and the rest of the administration.\n"I am concerned that neither I nor other members of the administration outside of the athletic department had been previously informed about this matter," Brand said. "I am also troubled by any situation in which an IU team member may not be living up to the standards of conduct that we have come to expect from all of our student athletes."\nBrand said he has asked professor Bruce Jaffee, associate dean for academics of the Kelley School of Business and chairman of the IU athletics committee, to examine the matter. Jaffee is chair of the athletics committee, and he said the committee has two tasks in reviewing the case.\n"One is to … establish procedures for when there (are) various types of misconduct by student-athletes … to assure that they are appropriately reported within the athletic department, to the athletic committee and within the normal procedures within the University," Jaffee said. The other, Jaffee said, was to "review the Rachael Honegger case."\nAthletics director Clarence Doninger said Honegger's situation was not kept from anyone. \n"This matter was not a secret. It happened last summer," Doninger said. "There was a glitch in communicating that matter, and I certainly welcome anyone checking that."\nJaffee said he appointed a six-person subcommittee to look into these issues and report to the full athletics committee as soon as possible. There is an athletics committee meeting at the end of the month, and Jaffee said he wanted the subcommittee's recommendations by then.\n"I made it very clear to that group that I want them to begin working on this immediately," he said. \nThe subcommittee will decide which conduct codes Honegger's case falls under, Jaffee said. \nBrand said he has appointed Dean of Students Richard McKaig to examine the matter to review the situation, concentrating on violations of IU's Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct.\nMcKaig said the same procedures will be used for Honegger that are used for any other student. Although McKaig could not comment specifically on her case, he said appropriate judicial system steps will be taken.\nA spokeswoman for the women's basketball team said Honegger is not commenting on the case. Coach Kathi Bennett also declined to comment on the matter.\nOverall, Jaffee said he wants to establish clearer lines of communication among the administration in student-athlete conduct matters.\nHe said he wants to "establish what we expect each of those three groups to do in informing misconduct among student-athletes to those other groups"