Athlete book loan program to change

The University of Arizona's intercollegiate athletics department this spring will move textbook distribution to the UA Associated Students Bookstore instead.

The books previously were given to about 250 full-scholarship student-athletes at McKale Center.

"The bookstore is the best place on campus equipped for security and storage of the books," said James Francis, athletic department NCAA compliance coordinator.

"They're set up to prevent these things from happening," he said, adding his office will now monitor the bookstore distribution.

Former starting free safety Mikal Smith and reserve cornerback Leland Gayles were arrested June 11 after the University of Arizona Police Department discovered more than 60 textbooks in the trunk of Gayles' car outside the Arizona Bookstore, 815 N. Park Ave.

A Pima County Grand Jury indicted the players in July on felony fraud charges. Smith and Gayles later made a plea agreement, accepting lesser charges.

Under the old procedure, more than 3,000 textbooks would be delivered to the UA bookstore and then transported to McKale, Francis said. He said the process was also time-consuming and delayed students in getting their books.

In addition to the distribution site move, the department also will stop letting students use book vouchers to purchase textbooks when they add a class after the beginning of the semester, Francis said. Although changes in the policy were sparked by the arrests of then-UA football players, Francis said it was a good opportunity to make improvements.

He added the changes weren't a reflection of the department's feelings toward scholarship athletes.

"It's not that we feel people are out there attempting to abuse (the book loan program)," he said, stressing his belief this summer's alleged book scam was an isolated case.

"We trust our student-athletes," he said.

In the program, all textbooks given to athletes are athletic department property and must be returned at the end of each school term. However, students are able to purchase a book if they want to keep it.

At the bookstore, an athletic department official will retrieve an athlete's class schedule from a computer and issue books accordingly.

University of Arizona Police Department Sgt. Sal Celi, who investigated last summer's crime, said he likes the program changes.

"Anyone had the ability, if they wanted to, to take a book (from McKale) and sell it to any bookstore in town," he said. "It was not being properly monitored."

The University of Arizona Police Department's investigation into whether athletic department officials broke the law in connection with the book policy was recently placed on the inactive list.

Celi said the case is at a "dead end," but could be rekindled if more information came to light.

"We have our suspicions but have not had enough evidence to continue the investigation," Celi said.

"I can assure you that you couldn't eliminate other people (from the book scam)," Celi added. "The problem is proving which people."

Francis said student-athletes will return their fall textbooks to the bookstore as a trial-run on the new system.