Shalala: Scandal 'has been quite painful for me'

August 28, 2011
Miami Ambitious Shalala

FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2007 file photo, former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, a co-chair on the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. In her decade as University of Miami president, Shalala has strived to get a school once called

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Miami President Donna Shalala says she is "deeply troubled" by the extra-benefits scandal that could damage the university's athletic department for years to come.

Shalala's comments were published as a letter to the editor in Sunday's editions of The Miami Herald.

Shalala said the past two weeks "have been quite painful for me." She adds that the NCAA is taking the lead in the joint investigation into allegations made by former booster Nevin Shapiro. The convicted Ponzi scheme architect told Yahoo Sports that he provided cash, cars, gifts and sex to Miami athletes and recruits from 2002 through 2010.

The NCAA is expected to decide this week if eight football players who have been declared ineligible by the university should be reinstated.

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