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A&T's information lockdown

A student who wants to run track at A&T dies during a tryout. The university forms a private committee to review the information. Yesterday the committee released its "findings," presented in full at the end of this post.

It says that the student, Jospin Milandu, was participating in "an unscheduled track try-out." (It doesn't explain what that is.) As a result, "a number of university policies were violated." It doesn't say what policies.

It says one NCAA policy was violated. It doesn't say what policy.

It says the policy violations "are primarily limited to the track program." Primarily?

It doesn't address questions that have lingered since Milandu died — whether he had signed a waiver, whether he had had the required physical and whether a medical personnel were nearby.

As Gerald Witt's story in the e-edition today says, A&T officials aren't answering questions or saying anything else, they aren't releasing emails or other requested information, and they aren't available for comment.

Apparently, they aren't explaining anything to Milandu's father, either.

This shouldn't satisfy students, alumni or taxpayers, either. (And as the comments in this story suggest, it doesn't.)

This isn't Aggie Pride. A&T is a public institution, just as UNC-Chapel Hill is. Perhaps there are valid reasons for keeping the information private. A&T officials ought to come out and explain them.

This is the complete news release, which came from Nicole Pride, associate vice chancellor for university relations:

"On August 16, 2010, the North Carolina A&T State University family suffered the tragic loss of one of its students, Jospin “Andre” Milandu. Jospin was a 20-year-old sophomore from Knightdale, North Carolina. Jospin collapsed during a supervised, voluntary track team open try-out on our campus. Immediately following this unfortunate incident, our chancellor, Dr. Harold L. Martin Sr., assembled a committee to gather the facts surrounding this unfortunate tragedy. This committee was comprised of three senior university administrators — the Vice Chancellor for University Advancement, Special Assistant to the Chancellor, and the Athletics Director — with the guidance of the university’s legal staff.

"The university’s findings revealed that at the time of this incident, Jospin Milandu was participating in an unscheduled track try-out. Because this activity did not appear on the university’s schedule of athletic events, a number of university policies were violated. Additionally, one NCAA policy was also violated resulting in what has been determined to be a “secondary violation.” This violation has been self-reported to the NCAA. As a result of these policy violations, the university’s ability to respond effectively was limited.

"The university is committed to the safety of its student athletes and to being in full compliance with all of its own policies and those of the NCAA. The findings revealed that the policy violations surrounding this incident are primarily limited to the track program. The university is unconditionally committed to effective oversight of the university’s athletic programs. Chancellor Martin has instructed the university’s athletics director to assume direct responsibility for all compliance matters related to the university’s track program until further notice.

"We continue to grieve the loss of Andre, and extend our heartfelt sympathy to his family and friends. Since this matter may involve personnel issues, the university is unable to provide further details."

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gsostudent

September 1, 2010 - 11:44 am EDT

Oh, so A&T isn't transparent enough and we should call them out on this, but it's totally cool that the police department doesn't provide any information about all of the firings happening in the department, etc. You'd hope that the N&R and other media would hold them to a higher standard, but instead you're worried about A&T.

John Robinson

September 1, 2010 - 11:56 am EDT

You're right. Our interest in the A&T issue is heightened because a student is dead after participating in a school-sponsored activity.

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