Honegger plays

Senior basketball player Rachael Honegger was allowed to play her final game in Assembly Hall Thursday night, after serving a five-game suspension for pleading guilty to forgery. Thursday's 54-50 loss against Illinois was the final home game of the 2000-01 season for the Hoosiers. \nHonegger did not speak to the press after the game, but did address the crowd during the ceremonies honoring the two IU seniors. \n"It means so much to play my last game in Assembly Hall," Honegger said.\nCoach Kathi Bennett spoke mostly about Honegger and fellow senior Rainey Alting and their play during the game. \n"Whatever decision came down, she would have been fine with," Bennett said. \nThursday afternoon IU President Myles Brand accepted recommendations from the athletics committee to reinstate Honegger immediately. Honegger had been sidelined from games since athletics director Clarence Doninger suspended her pending the committee's investigation. \n"President Brand accepted the entire report," University spokeswoman Susan Dillman said. She said Brand endorsed the recommendations of the athletics committee, which had been charged with investigating Honegger's actions. \nThe committee came to a unanimous conclusion that Honegger has served sufficient punishment after pleading guilty to forgery, including the legal ramifications and the suspension, which began Feb. 7.\n"The committee reviewed both the specifics of her situation and the procedures in place internally and externally to deal with student-athlete misconduct," Bruce Jaffee, committee chair, said.\nThe 19-member group concluded in its report that Honegger's case was not handled properly by the athletics department "through no fault of her own."\nTwo weeks ago, Brand requested the athletics committee review how Honegger's situation was handled by the athletics department after learning of her conviction from sources outside the department.\nThe committee held a special meeting Tuesday to review a subcommittee's report and recommendations and vote on a proposal for Brand. The committee report concluded improvements are needed in communication within the athletics department, the athletics committee, the dean of students and the president. \nJ. Terry Clapacs, vice president for administration, saluted the committee's work.\n"Once again, the athletics committee has done fine work," Clapacs said in a press release. "They identified a problem and offered helpful recommendations and corrective measures to improve our system."\nThe committee said it was concerned Bennett wasn't aware of the key athletics department personnel who should have been informed of the investigation. Bennett reported directly to Doninger, which the committee commended. But Bennett did not know the roles other IU administrators should have played, the report said. The committee said upon being hired, Bennett wasn't socialized into the structure of the athletics department. \nThe committee said it was disturbed at the lack of communication that occurred through the summer and fall between the athletics department and the administration. \nHonegger continued to play after pleading guilty in October to forgery for embezzling from her former employer, the Ellettsville IGA. She has been forced to pay back about $13,000.\nA Monroe County judge sentenced Honegger to three years in jail, but suspended all but six months of her sentence. She is serving limited house arrest.\nThe committee indicated it was surprised an issue of this nature could "slip through the cracks."\n"(We need to) recognize the responsibility of coaches to develop and enforce their own teams' rules," committee co-chairman Bonnie Brownlee said. "Coaches have an autonomy, but when that autonomy is such that one coach says, 'This person's off the team forever,' and the next coach says, 'Well, I need this kid to play, so she gets to play,' that doesn't work. We think it's really important for people in athletics to come to some agreement to how they're going to go about doing this."\nIn the case of evidence of felonious or other criminal misconduct, assessment of penalties should be made by an independent panel, according to the report. In the case of the formation of a student-athlete misconduct panel, the president, athletics director, administrator for the sport, coach and player would be informed in writing of any case referred to the panel, as well as the final decision.\nDillman said Honegger regrets what she did and wants to focus on other things. \n"She is paying restitution with regard to her felony conviction," Dillman said. "She's said she's sorry. She's been the target of a lot of attention.\n"President Brand feels it is time to move on"