ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 8, 1996 TAG: 9611080058
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-16 EDITION: METRO
THE SITUATION at Virginia Tech is bordering on - no, has descended into - the ridiculous.
It is ridiculous that no fewer than nine Tech footballers (one is a former player) were indicted this week by a Montgomery County grand jury: one on a felony abduction charge, another on a felony malicious-wounding charge, the others on misdemeanor assault-and-battery charges.
It is ridiculous that, in addition to the previously reported August brawl that led to charges against eight of the footballers, the public now learns of yet another shocker: The abduction charge stems from an incident in July, when a visiting University of Virginia student was allegedly forced to drink liquor until he passed out and was then dumped on a Blacksburg sidewalk.
It is ridiculous that this brings to 20 the number of Tech players who have been arrested within the past year. That's almost enough for an entire squad before the days of platoon football. So far, five have been convicted, four acquitted.
It is ridiculous that the president of the university should be forced to divert his time and office on something so inconsequential to Tech's purpose and future as its football team.
It is ridiculous that the public image of a major, ambitious university should ride in part on something so frivolous and so remote from its mission as the performance of a university-sponsored football team, and that this image should be so susceptible to the kind of damage done this week.
And it is downright sad that the Tech athletic director should feel compelled to note that "[i]f you look across the country you see more incidents taking place like this every year."
It is sad, first, because David Braine's point is true, which is a depressing commentary on the state of football-playing American universities in general.
But it is sad, too, because the point comes across like an alibi for Tech's problems, when it ought to serve as cause for reconsideration of football's role at Blacksburg.
The university is right not to prejudge anyone's legal guilt or innocence - while punishing players, as members of the team, for ending up in court. The university also is right to insist that not every member of the team or athletics department can be held accountable for the actions of a limited, if too large, number of individuals.
Even so, isn't it time to start asking serious questions about the Faustian bargain that big-time football, with all the money and attention it attracts, requires of universities?
Perhaps American higher education should serve notice that it no longer will serve as a player-production system for the professional, for-profit National Football League. Perhaps not. But isn't it time Tech considered doing so?
The university has not always had a powerhouse football team; why, and at what cost, does it need one in the future?
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB