UNIVERSITY SUSPENDS MCALARNEY

Irish Point Guard To Miss Spring, Summer Semesters Following December
Possession Charge

Notre Dame basketball player Kyle McAlarney was suspended for the
spring and summer semesters Monday and is currently on his way home to
Staten Island, N.Y., his mother said in a phone interview Tuesday
afternoon with The Observer.

Janice McAlarney said her son - a sophomore who was charged with
possession of marijuana Dec. 29 - was not dismissed from the
University, but the news of a two-semester suspension came as a shock.

"[Notre Dame] coach [Mike] Brey thought he was dressing Kyle
tonight for the St. John's game," Janice McAlarney said. "I have not
spoken to Coach Brey [since the decision was made]. He's 16 miles away
from me right now with the team, and he's where he has to be. I don't
blame basketball in this at all. I think he was caught way off guard
also.

"The athletic department and [Notre Dame Athletics Director] Dr.
[Kevin] White told me they were as surprised as I am, they were shocked."

Senior Associate Athletics Director John Heisler told The Observer
Tuesday he was unable to comment. Notre Dame sports information
director Bernie Cafarelli said she could not comment due to privacy
laws.

Brey cannot comment on the situation either, Cafarelli said.

McAlarney, who was pulled over during a routine traffic stop near
campus early in the morning on Dec. 29, is at least the seventh Notre
Dame athlete to face suspension or dismissal in the past eight years.

In 1999, Irish tailback Tony Driver was suspended from the football
team for a parietals violation. In early 2002, football players
Lorenzo Crawford, Justin Smith, Donald Dykes and Abram Elam were
dismissed from the University following accusations of raping a female
Notre Dame student in an off-campus house. Later in 2002, Irish
running back Julius Jones was suspended for academic
delinquency.

Since McAlarney is suspended for the spring and summer semesters, not
dismissed - which under the University's disciplinary handbook, du
Lac, means permanent expulsion - he will have the opportunity to
reapply for the fall 2007 semester.

Associate Vice President for News and Information Don Wycliff told The
Observer Tuesday morning he "can't talk about any individual's
disciplinary or other records," and Residence Life and Housing
Associate Director Lori Maurer said under federal law she's unable to
comment on the specific case of any individual student.

But Janice McAlarney said her son met with Office of Residence Life
and Housing officials Monday at 4:30 p.m. Brey was only present for 10
minutes before he had to leave for New York City, Janice McAlarney
said. The Irish play tonight against St. John's at Madison Square Garden.

She said her son received the decision a little before 5 p.m.

"He's lonely, he hit the road last night, my husband flew to Ohio to
meet him he can't drive all the way by himself," Janice McAlarney
said. "He's heartbroken, he didn't expect this."

Janice McAlarney said she understands Kyle McAlarney made a bad
decision, but feels strongly that "the punishment does not fit the
crime."

Nobody has given her any answers, she said, as to why her son was
suspended for both the spring and summer sessions instead of only the
spring term.

"Why did you suspend him for two semesters?" Janice McAlarney said.
"Other students I know who the [Residence Life and Housing] committee
met, they were suspended for one semester. I'm not getting an answer
for why he was suspended for two semesters."

Maurer did say the University makes no distinction between athletes
and non-athletes when it comes to disciplinary matters.

Students, like Kyle McAlarney, possess the opportunity to submit a
case review if there's a "procedural defect in the disciplinary
process which would have been substantial enough to have changed the
outcome" or "the discovery of substantial new information which was
unknown to the student at the time [of the hearing]," according to
page 184 of du Lac.

Students cannot submit a case review if they feel the punishment is
too severe.

According to page 94 of du Lac, "students who possess illegal
substances including marijuana "shall be subject to disciplinary
suspension or permanent dismissal." On the other hand, distributing
illegal substances "is a serious violation which shall result in
disciplinary suspension or permanent dismissal."

There is nothing in the specific section of du Lac stating that
possession of marijuana is automatic grounds for suspension or
dismissal from the University.

Janice McAlarney said she felt the decision had something to do with
making an example of her son, given his position as a public figure at
Notre Dame.

"I think he would have gotten one semester if he was just a regular
student. I think we could accept that, understanding [he broke a
law]," Janice McAlarney said. "But two semesters, and when he already
sat seven Big East games? And they did it without his teammates around
him, I mean, where is the compassion?"

Two weeks ago, McAlarney entered the St. Joseph's Country pretrial
diversion program, a system that allows certain offenders to have
charges eventually expunged from their records. Janice McAlarney and
her husband had been with their son at Notre Dame for the previous
three weeks. But Janice McAlarney returned to New York on Sunday night.

"I had left. I had just left town a couple hours before," she said.
"I'm very angry that they did not tell me, as the mom that, 'you know
what, maybe you should stick around because it's not good news.'"

Janice McAlarney said the family wouldn't encourage Kyle McAlarney to
explore his options at other schools, and that it's been her son's
dream - as well as the family's - for him to attend Notre Dame. While
she said that "[Kyle McAlarney] still wears the Notre Dame shirt
proudly," right now, they're unhappy with the specific disciplinary
process.

"I think they made their decision three weeks ago and that's what
angers us," Janice McAlarney said. "I think they strung us along for
three weeks. I think they should have just put it out on the carpet
then."