Chelsey Tulgren recently sent me a message informing about a petition regarding an incident that happened at her school, the University of Minnesota. The incident involved 3 football players who allegedly raped an 18-year-old woman. The petition expresses outrage over the blind support given to the football players by coaches, teammates, and fans, and the allowance of such support by the University. Additionally, the petition calls for more support for victims of rape and sexual assault. I signed the petition, which you can find at petitiononline.com/2endrape/petition.html. Read it, and if you also agree sign it.
I understand the danger of false accusations. We all agree in treating accused people as innocent until proven guilty. However, athletes – both student and professional – get extra immunity. Our society and schools have a noticeable tendency to excuse athletes’ bad behavior for irrelevant reasons such as the athletes popularity. In the same way schools have notoriously given student-athletes good grades despite poor academic performance, athletes get a legal pass on inexcusable behavior. We need to stop all rapists, not just the rapists who cannot play a good ball game.
When it comes to legal investigations for violent crimes such as rape, we cannot afford to give athletes extra breaks or blind support. Let’s judge people by their guilt, not by their athletic ability.
What do you think?
Friday, April 13th 2007 at 2:33 pm
I totally agree, you should judge the athlete’s offense, not their athleticism’s.
J Hines