BC football players behaving badly
By adamg - Fri, 11/30/2007 - 9:43am.
Michael Pahre provides the BC football player police blotter. Latest entry: Running back charged with kicking a BC visitor in the face. He also wonders why, of the three players charged this year, the only one suspended from school was the one who wasn't a starter.
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To be fair
I'm not saying I agree that they should be handled differently, but the school WOULD treat those offenses differently if they happened to any other student so I'm at least not bothered that the same applies for football players. One event was obvious an off-campus bar fight, which is serious and I'd have expected football players to be held to a higher standard, was still something that happened while the players were out of school for the summer. The more recent event took place on campus, evidently, while school was in session, and certainly sounds like a more serious assault from what we know now. His actions could easily get him expelled or at least suspended from the school, while the other actions wouldn't.
Which essentially just tells me that the team is very forgiving, but if a player is getting themselves tossed from the school there isn't much that forgiveness can do. Not a great message, mind you, but not necessarily a true double-standard.
Double Standard
I went to BC and I can tell you there are a different set of rules for the student athletes.Lets just say there is a lot more slack given to athletes when there is an incident. The only time they come down hard is when things make it to the papers. Im sure it is the same at most big schools.All I know for sure is that there is a lot of things that the general public never hears about.This ranges from being caught with a little pot to rape.As long as its kept quiet things are covered up.
I went there, too
And I completely agree that there was a different set of rules for student athletes. Its why I don't give money to the school and am not sure I ever will. I just don't think this particular comparison is proof of it.
Its proof of leniency to athletes, since they ought to be held to a higher standard, but I don't think the school would have rushed to expel a student for getting arrested over summer break in general. However, a student who assaults someone on campus would be and I think that's what happened here. Where BC is really wrong is all the stuff we never hear about the student athletes doing because it gets hushed up. Here an athlete did something very stupid and obviously public enough that making it go away wasn't an option. I don't think its because he wasn't a starter, though.
But on the other hand...
I'd like to know how important football is in keeping BC afloat. I mean, once upon a time (I heard) it was just a nice little Catholic Arts college, heavy on philosophy. And then it decided to become the Notre Dame of the East. (That sounds like Dorothy's House might fall on it, but never mind.) Tuitions skyrocked to Harvard-like levels. Students started going around beginning sentences with "If this is a Top 15 school, why...?" And then "If this is a Top 10 school, why...?" And the Jesuits buried all the evidence that St. Ignatius had originally stated that Jesuits should teach for free. Meanwhile, for a school that was started for the Boston Irish, I should as heck never heard a Southie accent from a student any time I dropped by. The guys doing the landscaping--sure.
Where was I? Oh. So anyway, on football game days, Notre Dame makes one million dollars off the tuck shop alone, so I wonder how much BC makes? And what, I wonder, is the social justice aspect of getting unpaid 18 year olds to go out and get their limbs crunched so that BC can get loads of moolah?
Sure an' that would be "sure."
Sorry. That "should" shoulda been "sure."
Not really a decision
BC didn't as much decide to become Norte Dame East. It was an opportunity that presented itself Doug Flutie became Doug Flutie and raised the school's national profile. When I was at BC, though, not all that long ago, there was a lot of emphasis on its Jesuit identity. Its still a relatively small university with solid academics and generally a good student community. I'll honestly say, it was better than I expected in that regard.
The benefits from a high-profile football team isn't simply the tickets at the gate or concessions in the stands. It generates awareness about Boston College around the country. Joining the ACC, for instance, has introduced BC to a lot of prospective students in the South who'll introduce more geographic and experiential diversity to the school's community. Nevertheless, BC has a solid fundraising set-up that allows the school to be more than a footbaal team. BC isn't a "football school" and it won't be any time soon. The team helps the school most by PR, not by direct income. At least that's my sense of the situation.
Graduation Rates
For what it's worth, BC's graduation rate of student athletes is among the highest in the nation. They consistently top those polls that combine athletic achievement and scholastic achievement combined.
BC Student Athletes
Those are impressive numbers but they dont mention what is really going on up there."Normal" students must show up for classes and do the work. Many student atheletes(not just football players) wander into class 40 minutes late, sit in the back and act like 5 year olds.They bring meals to class, send text messages, pay zero attention.They usually leave class 15-20 minutes before it ends.On the way out they make as much noise as they want and generally just disrespect the students that are there to actually learn.AND THEY DONT EVEN PAY!!!!!
I've brought meals to Harvard Extension classes
and been able to eat, watch the lecture, and take notes at the same time. Didn't bother any of my neighbors, either.
...didn't bother your neighbors,
that you know of. Personally, I would find that rude and distracting.
BC ain't Notre Dame
A friend of mine from high school had a younger brother attend Notre Dame on a football scholarship.
If you play for ND, you don't get cut any slack. Just about every minute of his life was regimented during football season. They had tutors when out of town, and manditory study hall when in town. Notre Dame takes attendance in every class, including marking students late.
The flip side: when he started to feel like he couldn't cope, he could quit without penalty because academics come first. Notre Dame does not yank scholarships for injured players or players who need to bag football to keep up with the studies. As the number of scholarships is capped, this puts them at a disadvantage, but they will give you four years, play or not.
A Whatsit Identity?
What's the difference between a Catholic identity and a Jesuit identity? Notre Dame is always called Catholic school (not a Holy Cross Fathers' school), and I thought BC would be too, but I've heard peoples say, "No no no, it's more Jesuit than Catholic" so I am confused. Some kind BC grad plz explain.
Jesuits are members of the
Jesuits are members of the Society of Jesus, a order (or community) within the Catholic Church. BC was founded by Jesuit priests so it is a Jesuit institution, and therefore also Catholic. Notre Dame on the other hand was founded by Holy Cross Brothers, and is therefore also Catholic. People probably just call it "Jesuit" because thats what the school is always publicizing in their literature, website, media guides, etc.
As for the whole Football debate, and athletes getting special treatment I have to disagree. I think for anyone, athlete or not, college is about what you put into it. Sure, some athletes goof off and do no work, but I knew a lot of non-athletes in college that did the same thing. Neither one got kicked out for eating or text messaging during class. I do recognize that Athletes get special treatment in regard to tests and papers. Usually things are due on a different dates (often earlier than the rest of the class) and I don't see a problem with that. If they do poor work they will still get bad grades just like the rest of us. Again, no one gets suspended for getting C's in every class. Some students just live by the notion that C's get degrees.
Since the original post was about criminal activity I have to say that as long as the school doesn't interfere with the proceedings of the state and any laws, who cares how they handle discipline internally? It might not be fare, but if there is one thing I learned in college its that life isn't always fare.
Seperate issues
While I agree that non-athletes are perfectly capable of bluffing their way through college just like the oft-blamed student athletes who do that, the arenas that really concern me involve conduct and behavior out of class that gets hushed up. That DOES happen and its involved some serious offenses. Its a small campus and word gets around. Had it just been a single isolated rumor, I might dismiss it, but what I've heard about is a pattern of protection of serious criminal conduct and I've heard it from people with first hand knowledge, as well. Again, I don't think the circumstances being discussed here are examples of that, but this problem does exist.
Now, I don't doubt that this happens at colleges with major and even minor athletics programs around the country. And some local schools have had a habit of protecting criminals and prosecuting victims purely for kicks without even a financial motive. But it doesn't mean I have to like it or that I can't want my alma mater to be something better.