“Penn State recovered.”
Right. And remember, Penn State under Paterno was supposed to be the moral paragon of big programs, focused on character on not just winning, etc.
^well, to be fair, the players themselves had nothing to do with the sick abuse Sandusky dealt. So, Paterno taught his players what he believed in, and turned a blind eye to what his friend was doing. I think it is easier to recover when it’s one rapist who’s identified and removed, vs. a system that pretty much tells athletes that if they commit a sexual assault they’ll be protected. It’s harder to reassure people that a new generation of athletes won’t behave in the same way, whereas it’s easier for parents to believe that once the abuser and his accomplices have been removed, things will be okay.
Okay then, U of Miami recovered multiple times from the ‘bad boy’ image, SMU came back from the death penalty, the many basketball teams that have lost all their scholarships.
The program has to want to change to make it meaningful.
The problem is that the NCAA has let many schools off too easily for violations, so it happens over and over again. Then everyone pretends to be surprised when it happens the next time.
Nothing will change until the penalty for lying and covering things up gets large enough. If any coverup is an automatic $100 million minimum fine, then it may change.
Agree on the concept of a massive penalty, but IMO something a big fine only hurts future students financially since come/many of big time D1 colleges require student fees go to the athletic dept. Better to just hit 'em with the death penalty for 4+ years. No players, no coaches. A full cycle.
Of course, since Penn State got off with what I consider a hand-slap, I’m cynical that Baylor will be penalized very hard.
“So, Paterno taught his players what he believed in, and turned a blind eye to what his friend was doing.”
We don’t know what the players did or got away with. We’ll never know.
@bluebayou “Agree on the concept of a massive penalty, but IMO something a big fine only hurts future students financially since come/many of big time D1 colleges require student fees go to the athletic dept. Better to just hit 'em with the death penalty for 4+ years. No players, no coaches. A full cycle.”
I hear you. The death penalty is good too. I say a massive fine because in the end, sports is about money, but I think that the death penalty would cost a lot more than $100 million for Penn State. The alumni contributions that D1 schools get because of sports are huge.
I know that if I were a Baylor parent, I would be asking a lot of very direct questions. Schools do respond to persistent pressure from students, parents, and alumni. They need strong processes, and more transparency into how sexual assault are deterred on campus, and how they are handled when they do occur. Every school needs to do better at this, but some are a lot better than others.
Giving money to Baylor as an alum or paying tuition for a child to attend not going to happen from me until 1) Starr and the AD is off the payroll and 2) all lawsuits are paid out. Of course how much will tuition go up as a result of the lawsuits? Also how will this affect applications and enrollment over the next 4 years.
This is pretty much news to me, since my daughters aren’t interested in big football schools. But today, after reading some of this thread, this article came across my feed: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/26/baylor-admits-to-retaliation-against-rape-accuser-in-bombshell-report.html So, actual retaliation against the rape ACCUSER. Think about the culture of the school. I can not imagine anyone sending their daughters to Baylor.
Or sending sons
And I bet Baylor’s next few classes will be exactly the same as the one going in this year or last year, except maybe some football players.
It will be a long time before things change there I predict.
My FB feed is full of Baylor alum posting such gems as “I feel so bad for my alma mater… We will overcome!” Hmmm…not a word about the girls and the horror they lived through.
It was sad how these girls had to go through hoops to get their voices heard and to get justice. To be fair to Baylor, assaults didn’t happen on their campus so it’s not a mainstream issue. It is related to football players and girls who hung out with them at their apartments or clubs. I guess message is for boys to know that no means no, even if she comes to your apartment after midnight and is drunk, that doesn’t give you right to force yourself on her, a girl has to give her clear consent for you to touch her. Message for girls is to don’t be too trusting and don’t put yourselves in these situations. Message for football coaches is to know that there are dire consequences for your decisions so be rational, winning doesn’t make you invincible. Message for administration is to do their job and be transparent. Their campus and dorms are very safe and regulated. I think Baylor is going to be way more cautious in coming years so parents don’t need to worry any more than they would for any college campus.
The students still have the right to go to the police if they don’t like how the school handled it.
“Football isn’t really near-religion status in Texas. Please don’t lump us all into the same basket.”
A line from an old TV soap opera illuminates the point: Conspirator 1: “He’s just a billionaire. He’s not God.” Conspirator 2 replies; “It’s the next best thing.”
SMU has not recovered.
They have not recovered so clearly, that unfortunately, the NCAA refuses to impose that punishment again, even though it should’ve happened to Penn State, and it probably should happen to Baylor.
There are currently over 100 colleges under investigation by the Department of Education for inappropriate handling of sexual assault cases. Baylor may be the school du jour in the news, but sexual assault is a rampant problem on college campuses across the country.
This list was published in 2014, but it has since grown to 167 colleges as of last month. It isn’t just a Baylor issue. And even going to the police and getting a rape kit completed doesn’t always get results, especially if the accused is an athlete. Colleges want to sweep these issues under the rug.
Perhaps not for football, but I understand that apps are booming. I know a lot of SoCal kids who have applied/are applying.
Remember that “under investigation” just means that somebody complained about that school to the DoE. It’s possible that schools on the list did nothing wrong; it’s possible that schools not on the list are violating people’s rights every day. So we can make assumptions about where problems are or aren’t based on the list.
Baylor AD resigned (or was fired) and instead of hiring an insider for the head football position, Baylor hired a coach who has been on the ethics committee for 12 years. On the sports talk shows, these are considered positives, although most still want to see Ken Starr find other employment opportunities.