Citing concerns of Oregon State University's decline in "moral ethics," a private foundation that has paid for thousands of rural Benton County high school graduates to attend college announced Tuesday that it was suspending grants for students attending OSU beginning next fall.

The Clemens Foundation, which was started by former timber barons, the late Rex and Ethel Clemens, notified the university Monday of its decision. The foundation's board, including relatives of the Clemenses, apparently was upset with university and athletic department officials' disciplinary decisions regarding a fight involving four black football players and another group, among them National Guardsmen, at the Headline Café last fall.

The players were initially suspended, but OSU football coach Mike Riley last month lifted the players' suspension. Joe Rudulph still faces charges of assault, harassment and disorderly conduct for allegedly punching Guardsman Gabriel Sapp.

In a press release Tuesday, the Clemens Foundation said its board had "serious issues with the quality of education at OSU, ranging from a shift in academic purpose to a declining moral ethic, which has prompted the decision to suspend the grants.

"The university's recent leniency toward the unlawful conduct of certain student athletes has tarnished the school's reputation as a character-building institution," the statement continued. "Ignoring the fundamental principles of good citizenship does not set a good example for students and students are the Clemens Foundation's first priority."

The foundation said it had expressed these concerns to OSU and that the university had no plans to modify its current course due to state mandates.

OSU Vice Provost for Student Affairs Larry Roper said he talked to Steve Lowther, a Clemens Foundation board member and nephew of the Clemenses by phone on Monday. Roper said the foundation did not make any demands of the university, rather Lowther was informing him of the board's decision to suspend scholarships.

"They had already developed a press release," Roper said Tuesday. "My sense was that he wasn't requesting anything of us."

Roper said he was concerned for the 150 students attending OSU on Clemens scholarships.

"I think that it is unfortunate for them," Roper said.

The university is interested in helping those students affected by the changes so that they can continue to attend OSU. Roper said there didn't appear to be anything the university could do to appease the foundation. He offered to attend a Clemens Foundation board meeting, but he said Lowther didn't seem interested.

"It seems like the only thing that we could do is to change our educational philosophy. I'm not sure that's reasonable and I'm not sure we could fashion in it a way that could meet the foundation's expectations.

"They're looking for an institution that's aligned with their values. They want an institution to operate within the values that guide their foundation."

The Clemens Foundation said it has supported OSU for more than 40 years, and awarded more than $2.2 million in grants to students to attend the university in the last four years.

The foundation made changes to the scholarship in 2003, altering eligibility requirements to reflect the foundation's values after issuing an ultimatum to Philomath School District officials to make administrative changes at the high school and district office.

Lowther and the foundation's board claimed the Philomath schools had become too "politically correct." A list of allegations by the foundation was investigated by a district committee, and most were dismissed.

Prior to 2003, the foundation offered tuition grants to all graduates of high schools in Alsea, Crane, Eddyville and Philomath. The grants were equal to the tuition charged by the school a student chooses to attend, but not to exceed the tuition charged by OSU for undergraduate resident students.