Some exerpts from Ryan's article I feel shed some light on the situation...
 
> The following article appeared in the April 12, 1995, issue of
> The Maine Campus, the University of Maine's student
> newspaper. It is copyrighted (C) 1995 by The Maine Campus.
> At no time may this article be sold or distributed in any
> publication, electronic or otherwise, without the permission
> of its author, Ryan Robbins, or The Maine Campus.
>
> You may reach the author at the following e-mail address:
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> Keep this header attached to the article at all times.
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> Ryan Robbins
> Maine-NCAA-Cust-Talks
> 04-11-95
>
> CONTROVERSIAL CASHIER FIRED OVER PLAYERS' MEALS...
 
>      "They knew she's a softy and if they come in saying they're
> hungry and they didn't have any money and no card" she'd let them
> through, Gallant added....
>      Even before the university became suspicious of low cash
> receipt totals during Cust's shift, it had been trying to find a
> reason to fire her, Gallant said....
>      The university claimed that when Cust took some time off in
> December, cash receipt totals rose, but then dropped when she
> returned.
 
        Although I don't have a sports law degree yet, my understanding
of the NCAA regulations is that athletes cannot receive any special
treatment. It IS alright (I believe) to be nice to an athlete as long as
you can prove that it's something that you'd do for anyone, and not
something nice being done because they happen to play hockey for the
Black Bears.
        The way I read the article is that this is a sweet old lady, the
nice motherly, nurtuing type, who is a sucker for hungry, broke kids. She
does comment also that she was unaware of the NCAA regulations.
        The fact that the receipts are generally lower when she works shows
that she regularly lets people in for free and these people could be anyone,
not nesecarilly athletes only.
        My understanding is that if she will openly admit to letting in a
multitude of non-athletes, then she in no way treated the hockey players
better than any other student. There's nothing wrong with being overly
nice to an athlete, so long as you're equally nice to the hung over
freshman, who staggers into the breakfast line flat broke. If this is the
case then I don't believe that an NCAA infraction has occurred.
 
 
Leigh
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