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Volume 71, Issue 131,
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Sports NCAA sports world will never be the same Super Fan Seth Mintz Collegiate athletics took a huge hit on Tuesday as two Duke lacrosse players were arrested for allegedly raping and kidnapping a dancer at a party they held. While an incident like this is rare at best, all college sports programs will now be under the microscope. Let's make a quick and important distinction here: Two individuals have been charged and not indicted. Sophomores Reade Seligmann and Colin Finnerty are innocent until proven guilty. But they will sadly be the face of what will most likely be stronger restrictions on athletes because the NCAA will look to protect its reputation. Racial tensions have been the foremost accusations thrown Duke's way. It's true that there's no love lost between the mostly white Duke University and the mostly black North Carolina Central, where the alleged victim is a student. The ramifications of this incident will be felt at every school across the country. The NCAA is not an organization that likes controversy, especially this kind of controversy. In theory, everyone at every school should be on his best behavior. This will now go double for every athlete. Fair or not, the next athlete who does something moronic will have the book thrown at him. You can take that to the bank. There have been some terrible incidents with athletes in the past because, like all people, athletes aren't perfect. Do you remember Patrick Denehey, Carlton Dotson and the murder scandal at Baylor not long ago? Baylor will never be the same after that incident. Neither will Duke, NC Central, or any school, for that matter, after this one. People no longer stand for those with prestige and power doing immoral things. This is especially true of athletes. There's been growing pressure on governing bodies like the NCAA to make sure college sports are not only played right but to make sure athletes conduct themselves in an acceptable manner. Duke's lacrosse season has already been cancelled; the coach has resigned, and two of the players have been arrested. This is all before the NCAA imposes its own penalties. Athletes will also now have some pause in deciding whether or not to attend Duke because most people want no part of being entangled in controversy. The NCAA will send a message, and it will send it loudly. College athletic departments cannot let these incidents happen. Any athlete who believes that this incident will not affect him or her, even minutely, is just flat wrong. Even if the Duke players are innocent, they shouldn't have put themselves in the situation in the first place. This type of thing can happen anywhere. Look at our school. UH is one of the most diverse universities in the country. I would like to think that incidents based on race can't or won't happen here just because we have to interact with many people with many different backgrounds. No school will get any free passes on indiscretions
for the time being. No one has come out and said anything officially, but
there will be more rules, and people will now dig deeper into finding out
whether college athletes are doing the right things. This incident needs
to get people, not just athletes, to think about their actions.
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