Team reinstated to race

Team Major Taylor said Wednesday in its arbitration hearing if it did not have freshman Joshua Weir as a teammate it would not ride at all. After weeks of controversy, an arbitration hearing and increased support from minority students, all four team members will ride.\n"We're obviously pleased with the decision," Team Major Taylor coach Courtney Bishop said. "But we're more so pleased that the student foundation and Indiana University gave us a forum to present our case -- a fair forum to present our case. To us it means that it made sense to more people than just us."\nControversy surrounding the eligibility of Weir began in early March when the IU Student Foundation contended that Weir had ridden as a Category I rider, making him ineligible to race in the 2002 race under IUSF standards. IUSF contacted Weir in an e-mail March 4 alerting him he was ineligible to ride. Weir replied to the e-mail March 5, denying the allegations. \nThe information IUSF obtained caused it to disqualify Team Major Taylor from the race. The team contested the decision, saying Weir had competed among Category I and II riders but never upgraded his United States Cycling Federation membership, which qualifies Weir to participate in the race. \nAround 12:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon, arbitrators Terry Bethel, a law professor; Mike Wilkerson, a journalism and arts administration associate professor and Craig Johnson, a SPEA associate professor, sent an e-mail to everyone involved.\nThe e-mail, obtained by the IDS, said the case came down to a lack of evidence on IUSF's behalf. \nThe e-mail stated, "We understand that the Student Foundation has an obligation to enforce the rules governing the race and we attribute no improper motives to its attempt to do so in this case. The problem is that the Foundation ties eligibility to status under (USA Cycling), but it has no access to those files."\nThe e-mail also pointed out that the letters from USAC obscured facts, rather than affirmed the truth.\n"This left the foundation with no choice but to rely on telephone conversations with various individuals, some of whom did not provide consistent statements. This is not sufficient to disqualify a team that has already qualified for the race."\nThe arbitration panel agreed not to disclose its deliberation process. Wilkerson said the decision was unanimous. He said even though he could not comment on the decision, he was pleased with the respect that each group had for the process and others involved.\n"I was impressed with the quality of both sides," Wilkerson said. "It was a difficult issue for both sides and everyone in room. The people on both sides conducted themselves extremely well. I was impressed with both presentations; they were solid, and the sides presented their cases in best way possible."\nStudents from around campus have followed the evolution of the case, supporting Team Major Taylor at the arbitration hearing and making their views known. The IU Student Association issued a press release stating they fully supported the arbitrators' decision.\nDespite trouble during the beginning of the series, Team Major Taylor plans to compete in the next Little 500 event, the Miss-N-Out this weekend. Weir said the controversy has brought his team and its supporters together.\n"The whole point is to represent the school population," Weir said. "The goal of our team is to represent our supporters.\n"We were a team before, but this has made us stronger and there was no point in riding without the original team"