After nearly two years of waiting, NIU was handed its one year probation Wednesday from an incident involving a former women’s basketball player.

Initially, the probationary period was to be two years, but due to what the NCAA deemed “mitigating circumstances,” the punishment was reduced.

“No one is harder on us than we are on ourselves,” said Jan Rintala, NIU’s faculty representative to the NCAA. “The NIU athletics program is operated with great integrity, and when mistakes occur, we own up to them.”

Although it is against NCAA rules for anyone affiliated with NIU to name the player involved in the 2004 incident, two people who wished to remain anonymous would not deny that it was Joi Scott, who was a member of the team until 2004.

According to the Aug. 24, 2004 issue of the Northern Star, Scott lived at the house of LaVerne Gyant, the director of NIU’s Center for Black Studies. Scott also received money for a plane ticket home from Gyant.

Scott estimated that it was about $2,000 that she would have to pay back, but said it was agreed that she would give it to a charity of her choice.

Scott transferred to Murray State after then coach Carol Hammerle asked her to leave the team.

“At the heart of this case was a faculty member who, at the request of the athletic department, reached out to help a struggling student,” NIU President John Peters said in a press release. “We’re grateful to the infractions committee for recognizing that context and for acknowledging that NIU’s excellent compliance history influenced their final decision.”

The NCAA listed reasons for the lessening of NIU’s penalty in its Infractions Report. Among the reasons were the fact that the violation was conceived out of concern for the student athlete and Gyant did not have athletic motivations for her actions.

Aside from the one year probation, the NCAA issued other penalties to NIU, including a letter of reprimand to the former assistant director of athletics who established the relationship between Scott and Gyant.

A former assistant women’s basketball coach also was issued a letter of admonishment for not reporting knowledge of the situation.

“We’ve taken every lesson we can from this incident, and the result is a stronger program and better overall support for our student-athletes,” Peters said.