More BYU football players hit the road last week, the latest "victims" of the honor code, or rather their own mistakes. If you're keeping score at home, that brings to six the number of players who have been sent packing this offseason on honor code violations.
The honor code has sidelined more players at BYU than ACLs. Until recently, there was a respite from the exodus, but now it's the '90s all over again. On the other hand, they've got a long way to go to match the more than two dozen players who were either dismissed from the team or otherwise sanctioned for violating the honor code and/or the law during the last decade.
No one can say BYU doesn't put its money where its mouth is. Name another football school that would boot four star running backs, two of whom now play in the NFL, mostly for doing things that wouldn't merit a yawn elsewhere.
Last time we checked, drinking, smoking and sex were not illegal activities, but they'll all get you tossed at BYU. The players sign an agreement that says they'll abstain from all that and more. They are shown videos about the honor code and after nearly every practice coach Gary Crowton reminds his players to stay out of trouble, to avoid parties and risky situations. He knows they are more vulnerable to sanctions than other students.
Maybe there is a double standard for athletes at BYU, but, according to at least one administrative official, it's not the one you think. There's a double standard, all right, but it's this: The school is tougher on football players than on the general population of students.
Whether this is wrong or right is open to debate.
When regular students violate the honor code, they don't get their names on the evening news or in the morning newspaper. But football players do, with film at 10.
"To my knowledge, there has never been a student whose name was in the newspaper for violation of the honor code if the violation was not a criminal offense," says one athletic department official.
When regular students violate the honor code, they are usually allowed to remain in school. For that matter, their transgressions often aren't even reported to the Honor Code Office. One campus bishop said recently that when a student confesses honor code violations, he does not report it to the Honor Code Office "unless they are predatory."
But because athletes' mistakes often make the news, when they violate the honor code they are usually reported to the Honor Code Office and are more frequently dismissed from school.
When athletes are disciplined for honor code violations, they are prohibited from participating in their sport for a determined period of time. Even if they elect to transfer to another school, they are forced to redshirt a season at their new school unless they move to a lower division.
If a regular student — say a musician or dancer or cheerleader — is suspended from school, he can usually continue to participate in his activity or, at worst, transfer to another school and continue to participate in his specialty immediately.
"BYU athletes are held to a higher standard," says athletic director Val Hale. "They aren't just representing themselves. They are representing their families, their team, their university and the LDS Church. If an athlete violates the honor code, it will make the news and will result in a black eye for all of those entities."
The school conducted a study a few years ago and discovered that athletes commit honor code violations at the same rate as the regular student body. But only the athletes' violations are made public knowledge.
Is it fair? One campus bishop thinks it isn't. "We are making these guys out to be bad people," he says. "Most (of the violations) are not illegal things. But they get treated like it. They get their names in the paper. These are young people who made mistakes. Their lives are affected."
On the other hand, as others note, they represent a school and a church.
"In some respects, I guess it's a case of where much is given, much is expected in return," says Hale. "They receive a lot of nice things, a lot of attention. When they do well, it's positive attention; when they don't, it's negative. We support the honor code and are unapologetic for asking our athletes to abide by it. We believe if our athletes truly live the honor code, it will make us stronger on the field of competition. The honor code is a benefit, not a hindrance, to what we are trying to accomplish.'
E-mail: drob@desnews.com