Trinity sophomore Greg Newton was convicted of academic dishonesty last week in an Undergraduate Judicial Board hearing. Newton, a member of the men's basketball team, is appealing the decision, senior University officials confirmed Wednesday.
When asked to comment on Newton's case, acting head coach Pete Gaudet said Wednesday night that he could not discuss an academic issue affecting a member of his team.
"There really is nothing we can say on a board [matter], anything like that, if that's what the story is about," Gaudet said. "I think that, professionally, any teacher or mentor that has a student in a situation like that would really be unprofessional to talk about them and break a confidence."
Mike Cragg, director of sports information, declined to comment on the issue Wednesday night. Last week, Newton and Chris Kennedy, assistant vice president and tutoring coordinator for athletics, also declined to comment.
The alleged academic dishonesty incident occurred in a Computer Science 001 class last semester. Professor of Computer Science Alan Biermann, who taught Computer Science 001 last semester, said last week he would not comment on any specific academic dishonesty incident because UJB cases are kept confidential.
Biermann said that in the more than 20 years he has taught at the University, he has sent about 10 cases to the UJB.
"I work quite hard at discouraging students [from cheating]," Biermann said, adding that he warns students early in the semester that he will send any case of suspected academic dishonesty to the UJB.
Newton was convicted on the academic dishonesty charge after a Jan. 17 UJB hearing.
Students have one week after receiving a board decision to appeal, said Paul Bumbalough, associate dean of students in charge of judicial affairs.
Bumbalough said he could not comment on a specific student's case.
In an academic dishonesty case involving a member of Trinity College, a student would appeal to Gerald Wilson, associate dean of Trinity College. If Wilson does not overturn the UJB's decision, the student can appeal to the University president.
Following a UJB conviction, the University can impose penalties ranging from expulsion to mandatory counseling. One penalty, known as exclusion, would raise new questions if applied to an athlete, Bumbalough said.
Exclusion prohibits students "from public participation or performance in the name of the University other than performance of duties as an elective officer."
Bumbalough said he did not know if an exclusion penalty would bar a varsity athlete from competing.
"That's a good question because that sanction hasn't been issued in a situation with a student who would also be an athlete," Bumbalough said. "I don't know, because if the terms of the scholarship required that the student would play, then it raises an interesting point."
If the outcome of Newton's appeal takes him off the basketball court, it would be the third unexpected absence from the men's basketball program this season.
Last semester, sophomore forward Joey Beard announced that he was transferring to Boston University, and on Sunday, head coach Mike Krzyzewski announced that he would not return to coach the team this spring.
Newton has averaged 11.6 minutes per game this season. He played nine minutes in Tuesday's victory over Notre Dame, scoring three points.
Newton has played sparingly during the team's ACC struggles this season. Though he played 11 minutes versus Virginia, Newton did not see action versus Clemson, Georgia Tech and Florida State, and played less than two minutes versus North Carolina State and Wake Forest.
Before the team's winter break trip to Hawaii, Newton saw 12 or more minutes of playing time in every game and scored in double figures twice, earning an season-high 14 points in the team's season opener, a 80-38 win over Brown.
Newton, who was the top-ranked power forward at the prestigious Nike Camp during the summer of 1992, played in 21 of Duke's 34 games last year, averaging 1.3 rebounds and 1.1 points per game. This season, he has averaged 3.6 rebounds and 4.2 points per game.
Noah Bierman, Alison Stuebe and Dan Wichman contributed to this story.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.