Sociology prof says he won't cooperate with AU investigation

According to the Huntsville Times:

AUBURN - James Gundlach, the Auburn sociology director who accused department head Tom Petee of academic misconduct, says he will no longer cooperate with the committee appointed by Provost John Heilman to investigate the allegations. ...

Gundlach said he made his decision after reading a report in Friday's Huntsville Times that administration officials said he was motivated, at least in part, to make his allegations in a story released Thursday by The New York Times because he was passed over when Petee, a criminology professor, was promoted in 2002.

Here is the portion of the story from last Friday's Huntsville Times that got Professor Gundlach in such a tizzy:

Administration officials close to the investigation told The Times that James Gundlach, director of sociology who joined the Auburn faculty in 1979, has alleged that Thomas Petee, interim chair of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work and Criminal Justice, has given special treatment to varsity football players in his classes and in the department. Petee, a professor of criminology, has vehemently denied the allegations.

Gundlach, officials said, confirmed to Auburn that, at least in part, his dissatisfaction with being passed over when Petee was promoted in 2002 led him to ultimately take his allegations to The New York Times earlier this year.

Gundlach went on to reiterate in today's Times article that he did not believe that special treatment had been reserved for Auburn athletes, and he confirmed that the directed reading courses at the center of the controversy were available to all students:

"I have never said this was something that was done specifically for athletes," Gundlach said. "My concern was that the athletes were something that was going to call attention to it and lead to embarrassing situations. If the athletes weren't there, nobody would care.

"Since I've been thinking about the athletic rules and other such things, it is clear that everything Petee did for athletes was also available for other students. In terms of the letter of NCAA regulations, there are probably no problems."

Meanwhile, a few current and former Auburn players and their families have responded to the story. See here (Travis Williams, David Irons, Sr.), here (Doug Langenfeld), and here (Carnell "Cadillac" Williams).