Cheryl Reitan had a headache to deal with Friday.

The Internal Revenue Service seemed to say the entire University of Minnesota-Duluth lost its tax-exempt status, meaning donations to the school were no longer tax-deductible.

“We’re not very happy about that, and our donors are like ‘What’s going on?’” said Reitan, a spokeswoman for UMD. “We’re just completely insane about that little notice.”

Reitan was quick to clarify: IRS data actually referred to the UMD Literary Guild — not the entire satellite campus of the University. She said her office would be sending a press release to clarify.

The guild is one of more than 5,000 Minnesota nonprofits to lose tax-exempt status last week, when the IRS cracked down on groups that hadn’t filed tax returns for three consecutive years. It’s the result of a 2006 law that required nonprofits making less than $25,000 a year to file returns, in efforts to better follow such groups.

Greek life groups were at risk of losing their status because of high turnover in management, Jeff Narabrook of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits told the Daily previously, but only defunct fraternities and sororities of the University showed up on the list.

Jokondo Jokondo, president of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, said his group will need to find more ways to make money because they now can’t use tax-exempt status for discounts when catering events or making other large purchases.

Lindsay Nichols of nonprofit tracker GuideStar said this is the way the status change will impede groups the most — it will be generally harder to attract donations and grants. Plus, reapplying for tax-exempt status takes time and money.

Jokondo said since the overarching Omega Psi Phi still has the status, the University campus chapter is working on regaining its own.

“It is what it is,” Jokondo said. “We’re just working through it.”

Multiple Minnesota chapters of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity are also no longer tax-exempt, but members of the University chapter could not be reached for comment.

Other college chapters of fraternities and sororities — most appear to already be defunct — are also on the revocation list.

Nichols said the crackdown will help the IRS learn more about active nonprofits.

“We’re going to get a real look at how big the sector is, how much influence we have,” she said. “… we just really didn’t have that before.”

In a statement, GuideStar president Bob Ottenhoff said because the IRS will have a better idea of which groups are in good standing, the public will, in the long-term, feel more comfortable donating to the nonprofits.

“University of Minnesota School of Agriculture” and “University of Minnesota Police” listings also appeared more grandiose than was reality – those entries actually referred to smaller organizations.

The agriculture school listing was actually for an alumni association. The University Police reference stood for the University of Minnesota Police Federation — essentially a flower fund, said police Chief Greg Hestness.

It was one of many groups that was defunct and therefore won’t be affected by the change. The IRS believes a majority of the 275,000 groups that lost their status nationwide fall under this category, according to a press release.

Eric Balderas, an illegal immigrant studying at Harvard University, faced deportation one year ago. University of Texas at Brownsville alumnus José Arturo Guerra faced deportation last month while in his last year of school. In both cases, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement decided not to pursue deportation.

Rather than allowing ICE to selectively prosecute undocumented students, it’s time for the United States to implement legislation to resolve the country’s problem with illegal immigration and higher education.

The Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act, which has been reintroduced to Congress after failing to pass in December, is not the answer. The DREAM Act would provide a pathway to certain qualified young undocumented individuals toward legal residency, and potentially citizenship, by either enlisting in the military or going to college.

Legislation like the DREAM Act encourages illegal immigration. Parents bring their children to the United States with the intention of taking advantage of the rights given to the country’s citizens and legal residents. Provisions provided by bills like the DREAM Act reward people for not following the law. Rewards aren’t usually given to those who choose to ignore laws.

An increase in illegal immigration could occur after citizens of other countries see that illegal aliens are given privileges.

Currently, 12 states, including California, allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition. In terms of aiding those students in college, this is as far as the government should go. Undocumented students should not receive state and federal aid.

According to USC’s financial aid website, international students at USC receive aid only through merit scholarships. If international students who go through legal processes to receive a student visa cannot receive federal aid, then certainly neither should people who do not go through legal channels.

Still, to extend aid to undocumented immigrant students, AB 131 has been introduced to the California Senate Education Committee. If passed, it would allow those students to become eligible for state financial aid, such as Cal Grants and University of California grants.

Like parents of other college students, the parents of undocumented immigrant students should assume the responsibility of getting their children through college. Illegal immigrant parents knew it would not be easy to live in another country without going through legal means. These are the consequences of those actions.

Even if the student graduates before being deported, he or she will face challenges in obtaining employment. They would be in a worse position than a graduated international student. Illegal immigration must stop being encouraged. Deportation needs to begin. But deporting top students, such as Balderas, might mean losing students who could benefit the United States. To solve this, illegal immigrant students could be allowed to apply for a student visa without having first to go back to his or her country of citizenship. They would be granted the same status as other international students and receive the same benefits.

These students are suffering because of the actions of their parents. But the DREAM Act, and legislation like it, is not the solution to the effects of illegal immigration on students. They should not receive state and federal aid unless it is also given to international students. They should not be rewarded for laws broken when others abide by the law. Thus, the best solution is for international students to be granted student visas.

A group of Harvard students and employees in addition to a state senator and representative testified Friday in front of a State House committee in support of a bill that would require the University to reveal a slew of financial information that includes increased information about investments and administrator salaries.

Members of a lobbying group that counts Harvard and several other universities among its members were some of the primary opponents of the bill at the hearing that took place in front of the Joint Revenue Committee.

The proposed bill would a bill require universities with an endowment worth more than $10 million to reveal more information about their investments and reveal the salaries of administrators making over a quarter of a million dollars per year.

Wayne M. Langley—director of higher education for Service Employees International Union Local 615, which includes Harvard custodial workers—urged the committee to hold universities more responsible by passing the bill.

“The core of the issue is that Universities are funded by tax payers’ dollars and should be held accountable to the public,” he said.

The University, however, felt that forcing it to reveal its investments more than it already does would provide an unnecessary hindrance on such institutions.

“We share the concerns expressed by [Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts] and other non-profits about this legislation as it is drafted. Higher education institutions are currently subject to stringent reporting requirements both at the state and federal levels. We believe this proposed legislation is unnecessarily burdensome because under current state and federal law, non-profits already make significant financial disclosures,” University spokesperson Lauren Marshall said.

Sandra Y. L. Korn ’14, a member of the Crimson editorial board, who spoke on behalf of the Student Labor Action Movement, told the committee that the bill would ensure the University treats its workers more justly.

Korn said that she was unimpressed with the arguments presented by opponents of the bill.

“Their arguments were not very convincing—they just made me more committed to the cause,” Korn said. “I see no reason why this bill should not pass.”

Other student speakers included William Poff-Webster ’14, a member of the Crimson editorial board who spoke on behalf of the Harvard Democrats, and Serena Y. Zhao ’12 on behalf of the Environmental Action Movement.

If the bill passes in the Joint Revenue Committee, it will then be put to a vote in the Massachusetts State House.

Langly, however, was pessimistic about the bill’s prospects for moving forward, saying that he did not feel it was initially explained well to the committee members and lamenting the fact that the bill was being argued at the same time as other, more extreme bills which would include taxing Universities.

“Harvard’s lobbying budget is millions of dollars. We’re down here on Earth and they’re up on Olympus hurling lightning bolts,” Langley said. “If this were based on an argument, we would win hands down—but it’s based on who has political power.”

The anti-poverty group Food Not Bombs rallied outside of the Student Union on Thursday – but with no food in hand.

The volunteers advertised their organization through signs and word of mouth in order to gain more followers.

For more photos, view the gallery here.

“We aren’t serving food because we don’t want to take away from the efforts downtown,” Thomas Hellinger, a student and chair of governmental affairs in the UCF Senate, said. Hellinger, who was released from jail Thursday morning, said that it’s important for students to learn about the organization.

“We need students to know that the city of Orlando has made it a criminal act to serve food to people who need it,” Hellinger said.

The organization gathers twice a week at Lake Eola park and provides vegan meals to the public. A food ordinance enforced by Buddy Dyer limits groups who feed more than 25 people at a time to two permits per year at each park within a two-mile radius of City Hall.

During Thursday’s demonstration, the students were asked to stand in the designated “free-speech” area in front of the Student Union but were not kicked off campus since they were only handing out fliers.

The fliers, which contained phone numbers to Buddy Dyer’s office, were handed out to tour groups of potential UCF students.

“It’s weird not being from here and walking into this,” Krystal Cunningham, a visitor from West Palm Beach, said.

The group has a worldwide following, but Thursday’s protest was mostly made up of students.

“Our tax dollars should be going toward the homeless, not arresting people who are just trying to help,” Conner McKelvey, a sophomore sociology major, said.

“As a staff member, I support this and what the students have done to help the feeding downtown,” said UCF faculty member Jay Jurie who says he does not live in fear of loosing his job.

Other than UCF faculty and students, religious groups such as the United Church of Christ and Islam Inc. were at the protest to support the feedings.

Even though the protest brought supporters together, no donations were collected during the protest. Generally the group collects donations at events and also through their website, but they decided Thursday’s demonstration was solely for awareness.

“The donations help us get food to feed people,” Fawn Bolack, a junior psychology student, said. “We help the people who are turned away by other organizations and kitchens,” Bolack said.

Twelve members of Food Not Bombs have been arrested in the area, including co-founder Jonathon “Keith” McHenry who has been arrested over 150 times for the same offense – feeding the homeless.

“Orlando is unique because of the ordinance. I’m in the process of researching the possibilities of taking our case to the Supreme Court,” McHenry said. “Because of colleges like UCF, we are gaining protesters from all over the world,” McHenry said.

California Gov. Jerry Brown recently expressed his support for the ideals of the California Dream Act, a bill that offers financial aid to undocumented college students.

The California Dream Act, like the federal DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act, is meant to extend support to undocumented residents of the United States, particularly young college students. Its primary goal is to ensure that qualified undocumented students have access to scholarly financial support, despite their status as illegal immigrants.

“[The governor] continues to support the principles behind the Dream Act and will closely consider legislation that reaches his desk,” said Eric Westrup, a spokesman for Governor Brown.

Although the original bill was vetoed three times by former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, it appears to have more favor with Brown, who is a Democrat. The Democratic Party also has majority control over the Senate, which must approve the legislation before it goes to Brown.

Philip Tan, an associate professor in the school of social work at Cal State Long Beach, echoed Brown’s support of the bill, and said that America should value the resources that undocumented students can provide.

“We need to have a way to help them become citizens,” Tan said. “They are an asset to our society.”

Tan also serves as a mentor for CSULB’s Partners for Success faculty mentoring program, which pairs students who are the first generation in their families to earn a college degree with faculty members who help them adapt socially and academically to their situations.

With regard to the Dream Act, Tan said that young undocumented students deserve all the help the government can give them, as they are not to blame for their circumstances. Most of them likely came into the country as children, and had no idea that their presence in America was illegal, according to Tan.

“It’s not their fault,” Tan said. “Their parents are the ones who made the mistake. They are suffering the consequences of their parents’ actions. How are they supposed to know about documentation at twelve years old?”

The bill, which is sponsored by Los Angeles Assembly Member Gil Cedillo passed in the state assembly on May 5, and must now go through the Senate for approval. Because of the high concentration of Democratic influence in the Senate, the bill’s chances at this stage appear optimistic. If it does pass through the Senate, the California Dream Act will be subject to the final approval of Gov. Brown.

In related news, The Los Angeles Times reported on June 6 that the Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to California’s current tuition grant policy for illegal immigrants. Brown’s support of the Dream Act in conjunction with this recent development indicates improving conditions for undocumented college students in the state of California.

Texas is known for its hot climate, cattle and agriculture but this summer, most are experiencing the heat.

“For this time of year this seems to be the third worst drought I have ever seen in Texas,” said John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas state climatologist.

From November 2010 to June 2011, the loss Texas has experienced due to the drought has reached approximately 1.5 billion dollars, causing serious problems for crop and cattle farmers.

“Each day without rainfall is one in which crop and livestock losses mount,” said David Anderson, agrilife extension livestock economist. “Even with the severity of the current drought, estimation of economic losses is difficult given that we are still early in the growing season.”

The majority of southern and western Texas is experiencing “exceptional drought”, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, which is the highest drought rating you can receive along with New Mexico and parts of Arizona.

“Texas is the largest beef cow producing state in the U.S. with more than 5 million head,” Anderson said. “More than 90 percent of the state’s beef cows are located in counties categorized as being in severe to exceptional drought.”

The drought has caused the price of crops to rise, which causes increased feeding costs all while cattle farmers are losing acres of grazing pasture.

“This increased feeding cost over normal levels is a direct economic impact on the livestock producers,” Anderson said. “The sudden severe onset of the drought has forced livestock producers to purchase even more hay, driving up prices sharply.”

Many ranchers have started to feed their cattle much earlier in the season, and with a shortage of water for their cattle, it is an ongoing struggle throughout the state.

“This requires even higher costs to haul water daily to meet livestock needs,” Anderson said.

Many livestock owners have been forced to sell their cattle due to increasing costs and some produces have sold as much as half their livestock to keep from running a deficit.

For Texas crops, it is still an unknown in how much the drought will impact them. Many Texas famers have yet to plant their crops for this season and are waiting to see if the weather conditions become more favorable.

“However, for wheat, cotton and grain farmers in central and south Texas who have planted or are facing final planting deadlines, and ranchers supplemental feeding on short pastures, each day without rainfall is costly,” said Mark Welch, an agrilife extension grain marketing economist.

The window for crops to have a favorable chance of surviving this season is very unlikely with each passing day.

“The low harvested percentage is compounded by several factors in addition to the drought,” Welch said. “Record-high calf prices increase the value of wheat for grazing, especially if grain production prospects are poor, and record high cotton prices offer incentives for producers to terminate poor stands of wheat in hopes of producing a high value cotton crop.”

The drought has also taken its toll on homeowners and hobby famers, in which many have lost all their crops of the season, forcing them to deal with dry, cracked and unusable soil.

“Based on past droughts, it’s likely to get worse as the weather stays hot and chances of precipitation decrease. The less water people use, the less the need will be for putting in water restriction to conserve water this summer,” Nielsen-Gammon said.

Major cotton producers still have positive outlooks due to the uncertain conditions in west Texas.

“Given the regular occurrence of dry weather in west and south Texas, and the late planting date in west Texas, it’s not unusual to be facing uncertainty about the level and condition of cotton plantings in the state. As the west Texas crop is not usually planted until May, there’s still time for conditions to change,” said John Robinson, an agrilife extension cotton economist, said.

The conditions have yet to improve, and if the drought continues on in Texas, famers and livestock producers may be looking at a very dry situation.

Telling the beginning of a story when the audience already knows the middle and end is a hard proposition. The storyteller has to accomplish the task of rekindling the same mystique and entertaining quality that once allowed the audience to suspend its notion of reality and, once again, delve into the fantasy the storyteller has created.

Director Matthew Vaughn accomplished that task and delivered on an even greater scale in “X-Men: First Class.” Using the talents James McAvoy (Charles Xavier a.k.a. Professor X) and Michael Fassbender (Erik Lensherr a.k.a. Magneto) Vaughn painted a bright and vivid picture of a 1962 world — full of mutants with extraordinary capabilities — that was believable and wonderful.

The story follows the rise of the first generation of mutants in the Marveluniverse. Told through the eyes of Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr we are witness to the rise of a new generation of man commonly known as mutants.

Xavier and Lensherr’s paths cross when they find they are pursuing a common enemy, an energy-absorbing villain called Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon). In order to avoid what history has dubbed the Cuban Missile crisis — a devious plot hatched by Shaw — Xavier and Lensherr recruit a select group of teenage mutants to help them combat Shaw and end the start of nuclear war.

With the gross exemption of Bacon, casting for this production was light on star power and quite heavy on thespian skill; a welcome mutation in Hollywood and, perhaps, a mutation studio executives and casting directors should show the rest of us slower evolving humans more often.

The chemistry between McAvoy and Fassbender is outstanding, showing the arc between strangers, who became allies, allies who became friends and, finally, friends who became enemies.

Though the film depends largely on CGI and special effects fireworks that seem to rule the Hollywood film industry, the use of setting, props and costume were realistic and tres chic for the year 2011, let alone 1962. Many of the scenes feature McAvoy and Fassbender in the kind of garb that would make Don Draper jealous, including an artful scene where the two actors are playing chess on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, wingtips in full force.

The mansion used to depict Xavier’s home in Westchester, New York best resembles a quiet getaway fit for a king — let alone a school for gifted youngsters.

First class is an excellent film, complete with an emotional and captivating storyline, allowing the X-Men movie franchise to finally come full circle from its first occurrence in 2000. Comic book geeks already love it, but I suspect those with an appetite for a good popcorn flick will too.

Terry Sias sold her baked goods out of a church parking lot Saturday morning in Northeast Minneapolis.

After spending 16 hours in her small St. Louis Park, Minn., kitchen baking brownies and other treats in preparation, she was just one vendor at the opening day of this year’s Northeast Farmers Market. She’s been coming to sell her home-baked goods at the market for four years.

“I just love to bake,” she said. “And when I heard that I could sell my own things here, I came right out.”

Increasingly, residents like Sias are taking their home-grown goods to farmers markets across Minneapolis. The city issued 33 permits for farmers markets in 2010 — up from 22 in 2009.

And recent city action could be a further boost.

The Minneapolis City Council passed the Urban Agriculture Plan in mid-April, updating the zoning code to provide citizens more opportunities to grow and sell their own food within the city.

The plan doesn’t have many direct implications for farmers markets, said Amanda Arnold, a city planner who helped draft the plan. But others are confident they’ll benefit from the increased visibility of locally grown foods.

David Nicholson, a consultant who works with farmers markets in the city, said by raising awareness of the benefits of homegrown foods, markets like the one in Northeast will benefit.

“It will raise the visibility of the local food system generally, and the importance of the local food system in creating a vibrant and sustainable community,” Nicholson said. “And farmers markets are a part of that too.”

Nicholson pointed to several markets at risk of losing their home. Because the city only provides permits for farmers markets to operate, the owner of the property has a say in whether they can be on their land.

Nicholson hopes that by raising their visibility, farmers markets will someday have a more permanent home.

Jill Thielen, who manages the University of Minnesota’s Farmers Market, said it requires vendors to grow their food near the Twin Cities. Much of the produce that makes it to the market was picked the same morning, she said.

“I think that’s kind of what people are looking for now,” Thielen said. “They’re looking for it for economic reasons, for convenience and for freshness.”

The University’s market is open Wednesdays from July 13 to Oct. 5 on Church Street.

Thielen added that while attendance and the number of vendors have increased at the University market, they are  still trying to reach out to students. She said organizers hired a marketing intern this year and created a Facebook page to appeal to students.

Sias said more people want to know where their food comes from, and meeting their vendor face-to-face is the best way to do that.

“I know people here by name and they know me by name,” she said. “Communities embrace farmers markets.”

The Bowl Championship Series stripped USC of its 2004 national championship Monday as a result of major infractions stemming from the ineligibility of former tailback Reggie Bush.

As a result of the ruling, USC must vacate the results of the 2005 Orange Bowl, the 2004 national title game in which USC defeated Oklahoma 55-19, as well as the 2006 Rose Bowl, in which the Trojans lost to Texas 41-38 in the final minutes.

“The BCS alerted us today that their presidents have voted to vacate USC’s 2005 BCS Championship Game victory,” USC Athletic Director Pat Haden said in a statement. “This was not an unexpected outcome. We will comply with all requirements mandated by the result of this BCS vote.”

The announcement comes 11 days after USC’s appeal of last June’s sanctions, which included a two-year postseason ban and a loss of 30 scholarships over three seasons, was denied by the NCAA’s Infractions Appeals Committee.

The BCS was only waiting for the appeals process to be completed, before making its ruling official.

“The BCS arrangement crowns a national champion, and the BCS games are showcase events for postseason football,” BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock said in a statement. “One of the best ways of ensuring that they remain so is for us to foster full compliance with NCAA rules. Accordingly, in keeping with the NCAA’s recent action, USC’s appearances are being vacated.”

As a result, there will no BCS champion for the 2004-2005 season.

“This action reflects the scope of the BCS arrangement and is consistent with the NCAA’s approach when it subsequently discovers infractions by institutions whose teams have played in NCAA championship events,” Hancock said.

USC will still keep its Associated Press National Championship.

For two former Michigan football players, the situation at Ohio State that pushed Jim Tressel to resign on May 30 wasn’t all that surprising.

According to Larry Foote and Jarrett Irons — two all-time Michigan football greats — it may be the best (or worst) kept secret in all of college football: big time players do receive some sort of payment or compensation.

Albeit, the players at Ohio State allegedly didn’t receive payment to play, rather, they broke NCAA rules by exchanging memorabilia for improper benefits.

“It’s a lot bigger than Tressel,” said Foote, who was the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2001. “I’ve been telling people that. It’s a lot bigger. College atmospheres, big universities and athletic programs, they’re dirty — a lot of them are dirty. And coaches, they’ve got to take the fall.”

Both Foote and Irons said that in each of their own unique experiences they have come to understand it is common. Yet both denied any wrongdoing happening at Michigan.

“When I was at Michigan,” Foote continued, “that’s one thing I pride myself about Michigan, because the stories I hear about other teams with the money and the alumni and the stuff like that, the stuff I’m hearing — I mean it is brand new.

“And people don’t understand when they ask me, ‘How much money did you get?’ And I’m like, ‘What?’ I’ve never even heard of players at Michigan getting money. Not one story.

“So when I go other places, and hear these other players, it’s funny — some world I’ve never even seen or heard about.”

Foote played linebacker for Michigan from 1998-2001 before being selected in the fourth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2002 NFL Draft. Having just completed his ninth season in the NFL, Foote has spent all but one season of his career with the Steelers.

In 2001, Foote’s Wolverines were upset by Ohio State in Tressel’s first season as head coach. Foote said the 10-year stretch of losing to Tressel and Ohio State, when the Buckeyes won nine out of 10 games against the Wolverines, hurt his wallet when it came to friendly wagers against teammates, like former Buckeye Santonio Holmes.

In those nine years, Foote has had plenty of contact with players from other prominent college football schools and got a glimpse behind the scenes at other programs.

“Everyone I talk to, most of the time they went to big schools and they got paid,” Foote said. “I don’t have no names and stuff like that.

“But it’s just, Michigan, they pride ourselves — Lloyd Carr didn’t play that.”

Ohio State’s starting quarterback, Terrelle Pryor, as well as four other key Buckeyes were suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season for receiving improper benefits involving allegedly trading team memorabilia for tattoos. Another player had received a smaller suspension, too. And in a Sports Illustrated story released early last week, a total of 28 players were implicated as to being involved in the same illicit behavior dating back to 2002.

At that time, Jarrett Irons was just about done with his three or so years he spent working for IMG. While there, he held a variety of positions working with several sports, but he did develop a relationship with some professional football players, some of which he called friends. He was recruiting them to come to IMG.

Irons played linebacker at Michigan from 1993-1996, and was an All-American his senior year. But he was cut during training camp with the Arizona Cardinals and decided to go back to Michigan to get his masters degree in Marketing. That opened the door to IMG in 2000.

At IMG, he was shown the same new world Foote had his eyes opened to.

“Any of the stuff that went on at Ohio State, I wasn’t shocked by it,” Irons said. “I mean, you hear stuff happening like that at other schools all the time.”

Irons said it was “common” to hear stories about players being paid when he was recruiting players to sign with IMG.

And Tressel’s ignorance towards Pryor’s new cars, which, according to ESPN, has become the new focus of the NCAA’s probe on Ohio State, is hard to believe.

“I think it’s hard to imagine that he didn’t know a lot of that stuff was going on, especially the car situation,” Irons said.

“Anybody who got a new car (at Michigan), from a compliance standpoint we always had to submit where we got the car, or this or that.”

Irons added that the players had to submit whose name the car was under among other paperwork.

The details emerging from Ohio State and even the situation surrounding quarterback Cam Newton at Auburn — in which Newton’s father allegedly brokered deals with colleges to exchange his son’s commitment for monetary rewards — are the norm for Irons.

“Especially with some other schools, maybe in other conferences, you talk to other guys — I mean, everybody was — you hear about guys getting paid,” Irons said.

“It was weird to hear about how many people get paid to go to certain schools. I never experienced that just from a high school level. It seems as though stuff like that has gone on for a while.”

Irons declined to go into further detail.

The NCAA infamously gave Southern Methodist the “death penalty” in the late 1980s for paying players under the table. The Mustangs were prohibited from playing football in 1987 and decided, on its own, that it was unable to field a team in 1988.

More recently this past fall, ESPN reported that Cecil Newton — Cam Newton’s father — told Mississippi State that “the money was too much” at Auburn, during Newton’s recruitment out of junior college.

Ohio State’s scandal is just the latest black mark in a long string of malfeasance in college football.

“It’s common,” Irons said. “I’ve heard of people getting paid. It’s not out of the ordinary.”