Nov. 4, 1999 5:36 PM AP

By STEVE KARNOWSKI

Associated Press Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Minnesota should increase the separation between its academic and athletics staffs to ensure integrity in a sports program rocked by scandal, a faculty panel said Thursday.

One recommendation from the Special Senate Committee on Student Academic Integrity called for removing athletics from the control of the vice president for student development and athletics, a job now held by McKinley Boston.

Boston has been under fire since March, when allegations began to surface of academic fraud in the men's basketball program.

Former tutor Jan Gangelhoff claimed she did more than 400 pieces of course work for at least 20 players from 1993 to 1998. The university commissioned an independent investigation that widened to include accusations of improper payments and travel irregularities, as well as alleged sexual and other misconduct in the men's athletics department.

University president Mark Yudof is expected to release the official investigation report on Wednesday.

"As an almost inevitable consequence of the scramble to advance in the rankings, academic abuses in athletics programs are intermittent if not continuous in some universities," the faculty report said.

While it is probably impossible to reach a permanent solution that would be agreeable to all parties, the report said, "genuine and significant improvements can be made."

The main thrust of the faculty recommendations is to separate the chains of command for athletics and academics, and to distance the academic counseling and admissions departments from officials in charge of sports.

The report proposed taking academic counseling for athletes out of the athletics departments because of the potential conflict of interest. The panel said it had seen "ample evidence" that academic counseling and advising under the auspices of coaches - which existed in men's basketball - can lead to "disaster."

And instead of reporting to a vice president for student development and athletics, the men's and women's athletics directors would report to a senior central administrative officer with "authority, institutional support and unquestionable integrity" who would report directly to the president.

All contact between athletic officials and faculty members, teaching assistants and civil service staff would have to be conducted through academic counselors. Any communications between athletics and admissions officials would have to be limited to written exchanges.

Still, the recommendations would not absolve coaches of responsibility for how their athletes perform in the classroom.

"Coaches are responsible for students' athletic performance and their public behavior as athletes, for recruiting academically capable students for their teams, and for fostering a culture of academic progress as well as athletic success," the report said. "Coaches' contracts should include significant incentives for improving the academic performance of the students on their teams."

Yudof was out of town and unavailable for comment Thursday afternoon, his aides said.

Boston saw the report but was in meetings all afternoon and unavailable for comment, Diane Gihl, his executive assistant, said.

Last week, Yudof barred the men's basketball team from postseason play for one year and put the program on probation in an effort to head off more serious NCAA sanctions.