ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 19, 1996 TAG: 9612190075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
Students on the Virginia Tech campus Wednesday were either lugging suitcases away for the holiday or quizzing each other for some last-minute cramming for final exams.
While a few said they were so busy studying they hadn't heard about the two football players charged with rape and attempted sodomy, most students had a definite opinion of the incident and the football team in general.
* "We're being put under a microscope, and it's like, well, no other teams have had problems before. I mean, come on."
- Tim Thompson, freshman
* "It makes me not want to cheer for Tech because I'm so disgusted. It's getting way out of hand. It's just like Nebraska - they get too big and they lose control."
- Rebecca Shelley, graduate student
* "My first reaction was 'typical jocks.' [The incident doesn't reflect negatively on Tech as a whole], but perhaps on the top levels of the athletic administration."
- Ralph Bone, parent from Virginia Beach
* "She [the Tech student who filed charges] is doing it just to be in the limelight."
- Melissa Mann, senior.
* "I'm not surprised. They're a bad crew and, OK, they're a good football team and all that, but looking at all that money they're getting - I feel like it's wasted."
- Shannon Letellier, freshman
* "There are also a lot of good football players that are being hurt by this and are being punished by the stereotypes."
- Kristy Kiefer, sophomore.
* It "is giving Virginia Tech a bad reputation for [high school] kids who come around to look at campus The punishment has been a little light. If [the football players] are going to be national role models, so to speak, then they shouldn't be getting off with a slap on the hand."
- Michael Vadala, freshman
* "It's a real shame that other guys on the team have worked so hard to get respect, and the fans and students have been supporting them - all for this."
- Josh Wirt, senior.
* "There are too many people paying to go here. And if we do something wrong, you know, we'll get kicked off, but these guys keep doing the same things and nothing happens. It's unfair."
- Jerome Hamiel, junior
LENGTH: Medium: 55 linesby CNB