Is it fair to hold UGA athletes to a higher standard than other students?
Aron White has stood up for a former teammate. (Associated Press)
The blogosphere can be pretty brutal, but there’s nothing like the columns and letters to the editor in a college newspaper when it comes to finger-pointing, moral absolutes and general snarkiness. The readers and writers are mostly students who’ve yet to experience the real world but have no doubt at all about the way things should be.
Believe me, I know. During my time at UGA I put in a stint editing and writing for The Red and Black’s opinions page.
Wading into a debate in such an environment can be a bruising experience, as Georgia tight end Aron White has found out.
White wrote a letter to The Red and Black recently taking issue with a column the student paper had run about Zach Mettenberger being kicked off the football team as a result of his drunken excursion to South Georgia on spring break.
The columnist, Bailey Keiger, a senior from Atlanta majoring in magazines, blasted Mettenberger for his “childish activities,” but also took a general shot at the school’s athletes, saying “this just shows the level of disrespect some student athletes — especially football players — have for their position at the university.”
She conceded that practice takes up a lot of the student athletes’ time but noted “they are given extra perks like a state-of-the-art training facility separate from the ‘regular’ student gym, and an exclusive studying center where they are given access to tutors and other academic resources.”
She declared herself a “huge sports fan” who has “attended almost every football game” in her four years at UGA and said her closet “has a disproportionate amount of red and black clothing.” And, she said, she understands what the athletics program does for UGA and “why these athletes are given special treatment; they hold a vital position in our university, one that is not easy to fill. They represent years of tradition and are often the face of our school. The special treatment is often justified and necessary to allow these players to fulfill both their academic and athletic duties.”
But, Keiger said, “I simply cannot understand why — after being given privilege after privilege after privilege — these athletes still continue to break rules and get themselves in trouble. Behavior like Mettenberger’s is unforgiveable … [and] shows a terrible ungratefulness of the benefits that have been bestowed upon athletes, and makes me almost want to burn the red and black in my closet.” She asked the athletes to “stop bringing shame to the Bulldog Nation.”
White responded with a letter to the editor in which he said that while he does not condone athletes breaking the rules, “I do not believe that a student athlete should be held to any higher standard than a normal student when being reprimanded for their actions.”
Athletes, he said, “are definitely in the spotlight and must hold ourselves to a higher standard. We have more stipulations put on our actions than non-athlete students and often have heavier loads as well. I agree that being a student athlete is a privilege. … I am more than grateful for the resources provided to me and my teammates. But the fact remains Zach Mettenberger is only a freshman. He should have used better judgment, but he would not be the first university student to get in trouble. He had a clean slate throughout high school and the rest of his freshman year of college.”
White’s main point: “If the staff of the Red & Black or any other student organization were watched as closely as our student athletes are then perhaps they would have more arrests and incidents too. So my advice to all UGA fans is to put this into perspective — UGA student athletes do not show a ‘terrible ungratefulness of the benefits that have been bestowed upon’ them. One mistake should not destroy Mettenberger or the rest of the student athletes’ characters.”
Keiger, White said, was “out of line” in her comments. He added a zinger that “A true fan would never think to ‘burn the red and black in her closet’ as she suggested in her column.”
White’s contention that athletes should be viewed like any other students drew a rebuke from R&B sportswriter Zach Dillard, who asked, “Come on, No. 81, are you really going to play that card?”
Said Dillard: “While Georgia fans should be proud to have such players as yourself who are making the most out of their college experience, other students are not going to feel sorry for a program who can not stay out of trouble — regardless of whether players are in a highly-scrutinized situation or not.”
On White’s point about athletes being viewed in the same light as other students, Dillard brought out the big hammer: “Feel free to keep petitioning on how the football program should be looked upon no differently than ‘any other student organization’ — then try to explain why football players’ average SAT scores were allowed to be 334 points lower than the average male student when your class was admitted back in 2007. So by all means, Mr. White, keep making insubstantial excuses as to why four Georgia players have been arrested in the past two months, and how the subsequent media attention is unjustified.”
Valid points on both sides. As Mark Richt noted when I chatted with him recently about his program’s spring troubles, athletes do receive public scrutiny that other students don’t and some are more comfortable with that than others. But it’s hard to argue with the point that since athletes are admitted to UGA under a different standard from regular students and are the public face of the university, they should be held more accountable.
What do you think? Should the members of the football team be viewed in the same light as any other group of students at UGA when it comes to getting drunk and arrested? Or is that higher standard a legitimate part of the deal when they get that scholarship? Was White unwise making a public defense of Mettenberger?
And, finally, would any true Dogs fan really consider burning their red and black clothing?
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193 comments Add your comment
Decatur Tech Fan
April 28th, 2010
3:32 pm
Grats to UGA for setting an example. If these kids dont take advantege of the $40k plus FREE education they are getting fine, but while they are representing the school, they should at least try to pretend they are human…I think we all know what I mean. Believe me, Tech could use an BIG enema shot through its atheltic dorm, especially the Basketball wing.
UGADAWGZ
April 28th, 2010
3:32 pm
Deliah- sorry but baseball does not beat football or tech’s best sport basketball
also were is tech’s world series? don’t have one? that is what i thought
ugaaccountant
April 28th, 2010
3:35 pm
Ah, the Red & Black – Still just as liberal a rag as when I attended. The couple of folks I knew writing for it back then wouldn’t have written anything this stupid though. But I guess they see what “real” papers are putting out these days and adapt their writing style to fit it. So kudos for that I guess.
ugaaccountant
April 28th, 2010
3:37 pm
while they are representing the school, they should at least try to pretend they are human…I think we all know what I mean.
Umm, no, we don’t. Is it “inhuman” to drink a beer or ride a scooter?
W/E
April 28th, 2010
3:43 pm
Athletes should be held to a higher standard because though they put in much physical work, most on UGA’s team wouldn’t be eligible for UGA if they were under the same admissions standards as other students. (Same at most SEC schools) Dillard’s point about SAT scores is perfect. I know people with 1200+ on their 2-part SAT along with 4.0 GPA’s who were denied at UGA. I know for a fact that Deangelo Tyson (likely starting DL this year) graduated with a 2-part SAT under 800 and a 2.1 GPA. For that reason Athletes need to be held to higher standards because they are receiving FREE education where if it were not for their atheletic prowess, wouldn’t be feasible. You don’t see every student attending UGA or other schools getting full rides to college simply for being there. That’s why athletes deserve to be held to higher standards and should face harsher penalties if they embarass a institute of higher education.
chazzo
April 28th, 2010
3:45 pm
ugaaccountant,
What does thinking that student athletes should have to behave have to with conservative or liberal politics?
An athlete posted a response to an article. Who is the liberal the tightend or the writer?
I just don’t follow your logic.
ARdawg
April 28th, 2010
3:49 pm
I commend Aron White for writing the letter. His opinion and his passion doesn’t make him right but he made some excellent points. Bottom line here is, Yes they should be held to a higher standard. Isn’t it obvious they have to work harder and also have much more to lose?
shane#1
April 28th, 2010
4:11 pm
Enter your comments here
Minnesota Dawg
April 28th, 2010
4:15 pm
As the saying goes, “Out of sight, out of mind.” Players play before the WORLD! Yes, they will be judged by a higher standard just as our politicans are. These players should realize that they are just like anyone who has name recognition. What they do in secret will be shouted from the housetops. Character does count and they should be willing to take personal responsibility for their actions. This is something that will never change because we expect our heroes to be good citizens and good examples for our children to follow.
Dawg 39
April 28th, 2010
4:17 pm
The Dawgs should hold themselves to a higher standard. Is it worse for an athlete to indulge than any other college student? Probably not. It does not make them Thugs. They should not be judged more harshly. However, they know that they should not be doing certain things & should expect to pay the consequences if they are caught. Personally I do not understand why an athlete would be drinkng under any circumstances. I did not when I attempted to be an athlete many years ago.
As to CMR. He is the best HC (not man) but HC that the Dawgs have ever had.
76-Dawg
April 28th, 2010
4:18 pm
When my son went to UGA as a freshman a few years ago the average SAT score that year for incoming freshman was 1250 and the average grade point average was 3.8. I wonder how many of the athletes at UGA would have gotten in if it wasn’t for their athletic ability. So when they come in they are already on a different standard.That doesn’t include a free $50,000 education that you get by” PlAYING “and my i emphasize” PLAYING” a sport that you love and have been doing for many years with the hopes of going to the next level. So hell yes the UGA athletes should be on a different standard. The reason it has to be a higher standard is the same philosophy as the arm forces. When you do anything as a team you need to work as a team and have respect for the people in charge and the most important reason is DISCIPLINE.
chazzo
April 28th, 2010
4:24 pm
76 Dawg. You make a heck of a point.
Minnesota Dawg
April 28th, 2010
4:25 pm
Those who chose to live in the lights will be responsible for every action they make by those same lights!
ugaaccountant
April 28th, 2010
4:30 pm
Liberals tear other people down for things they do themselves. They want a great team and don’t care if it forces the athletes to live as slaves to rules they would never accept for themselves. Basically they believe that “the man” should do everything they want and they themselves should have no responsibilities at all. And you’ll find that liberals are the first ones to start grumbling and cursing when things go bad. They want coaches fired on the spot and the starter yanked immediately.
Libertarians believe none of this stuff should be a crime in the first place, which is a very good point on most of the players in discussion for any school.
Conservatives support their team/school and forgive others for things they don’t find to be a big deal. They recognize talent and effort and support players that are working towards a mutual goal they have, a great team. Conservatives put rational goals together, like those that noticed Bobo had performed better on the sidelines than in the pressbox. Notice when he recently moved back down on the field his playcalling got better. Conservatives gave Martinez several years worth of chances despite never having thought he was the best hire in the first place. They were more than happy to keep him as a person if he’d just adjust his scheme to a more effective one.
shane#1
April 28th, 2010
4:34 pm
I posted the “enter your comments here” on purpose. My posts haven’t shown up lately and I thought Bill had me blocked. Anywho, athletes represent the school in a most public way so they should be held to a higher standard than less well known students. Fair or not, when you aspire to be a high profile figure of some celebrity you WILL be scrutinized. In the NFL you represent the shield, at UGA you represent all those folks in red and black. Both bring major perks, and a duty to act with class and a measure of dignity. Mess up and you can find yourself out on the street in either case. The Commish said playing in the NFL was not a right, neither is playing in Sanford stadium. Mett took a major hit, but he put himself in a posistion to be a leader and he let his coaches and team mates that down. Now he has to pay a price. As for the two walk ons, if you just saw a four star QB get kicked out and you knew the coaching staff was po-ed, getting drunk was the height of stupidity.
patrick
April 28th, 2010
4:37 pm
Free education? Have u ever trained at that high a level and still study? No. What they do is not free. Szome come away with serious injury. They get into UGA because its a business. The players…not the students account for the majority of cash pouring into UGA. U like the nice facilities? Then shut up and be happy they make the sacrifices they do to help support the school.
patrick
April 28th, 2010
4:40 pm
UGA is the most profitable sports program in the nation. Be happy u have that.
AltamahaDawg
April 28th, 2010
4:47 pm
are we there yet?
patrick
April 28th, 2010
4:52 pm
What would u have UGA do. Have nerds play sports. Then they would bring in the ‘profits’ of Vandy?
Bulldoogmaniac
April 28th, 2010
4:52 pm
To all of you GT fans that always come to the boards to to bash UGA about “thugs” please go to the front page of AJC.COM and see the crimes on record for each Georgia school.
Much, Much more crime at GT!
GaDawg
April 28th, 2010
4:53 pm
shane#1
April 28th, 2010
4:34 pm
I’ve been having the same problems with posting, In fact, this message is a test itself.
Bulldoogmaniac
April 28th, 2010
4:54 pm
As far as this topic…yes, it is ok to hold them to a higher standard.
1. They are role models for young sports fans
2. The have a “free ride” which cost the rest of us 10’s of thousands of $
TROTTINGHOME
April 28th, 2010
4:58 pm
Absolutley it’s fair to hold student athlets to a higher standard.
They get better food, more individual help, and many get discounted tuition.
Not to mention access to the finest facilities the university can offer.
No question about it. Lame question from someone who covered sports for so long.
patrick
April 28th, 2010
4:59 pm
Costs u money? They are soley resposible for millions in PROFITS. Do u understand what profit means?
patrick
April 28th, 2010
5:01 pm
…and the ‘finest facilities’ are paid for their on field action…..not tuition
patrick
April 28th, 2010
5:11 pm
Let’s see…….. 35 million dollars in PROFITS generated by student athletes ……. for those that can’t grasp the concept of profit I will explain…….that’s AFTER their tuition….AFTER their food….AFTER paying for the use of facilities….AFTER well……EVERYTHING. U DON’T PAY Anything for them….NOTHING
patrick
April 28th, 2010
5:14 pm
Oh that’s 35 million A YEAR. So actually they (their efforts on field) pay for the fine facilities YOU use
AltamahaDawg
April 28th, 2010
5:16 pm
A higher standard? As far as morality or ethics. NO.
But contractually, YES. And that a decision they made.
She is getting her arguments crossed. The “perks” as she calls them (but seems to conceed they are really just part of the process for being a S/A) are not part of this equation. That case is closed, that price is paid. Self contained.
The staying out of trouble is a completely different matter.
ugaaccountant
April 28th, 2010
5:16 pm
Patrick – You can tell which bloggers actually purchase tickets and have a UGA education vs. those who don’t. Anybody who thinks the $10,000 scholarship isn’t a pittance of the revenue the football players bring in is neither a fan nor an alumni. If anybody here would gladly work for $10,000 a year that’s another sign they didn’t get a UGA education.
patrick
April 28th, 2010
5:18 pm
Enter your comments here
AltamahaDawg
April 28th, 2010
5:27 pm
Well actually any college student is being subsidized by the folks. Full tuition covers about 20% of the real cost of a student to be in a college class. I’m not talking about living expenses. Running a University. Nobody could actually afford to go to college if they had to pay the REAL prorated cost of being there. You are paying for those student, athlete or not. It’s just a matter of degrees up or down.
So hightened expectations are already built in for every student.
AltamahaDawg
April 28th, 2010
5:31 pm
I wouldn’t work for 10k as a perm job.
But I would intern as a college student for that. Especially for the experience, contacts, and in some rare cases, training for a career making millions.
patrick
April 28th, 2010
5:35 pm
S/A are not subsidized. They earn a profit for the school that helps to subsidize others
shane#1
April 28th, 2010
5:40 pm
Alt,agreed. Compared to the millions football players bring into the university they are poorly paid. As you said, staying out of trouble is not part of that equation. Staying out of trouble should be understood when you sign your LOI.
KG
April 28th, 2010
5:46 pm
You morons think they go to class?
YAD
April 28th, 2010
5:50 pm
To paraphrase Jack Nicklaus, after Tiger Woods complained about media scrutiny from winning the Masters, “If you want to be a “regular” student and be treated like a “regular” student then quit the football team and become a “regular” student.”
ARdawg
April 28th, 2010
5:57 pm
YAD I agree with you there but to add, pay like a regular student. The S/A’s deserve everything they have and then some. I do truly believe they play a larger part in the academic side than given credit for but all this comes at a price. Some of that price is personal responsibility. There’s been some comparison to employment at 10K a year (I don’t know why because you certainly can not send a kid to UGA for 10K a year but I digress) If an employee embarrasses his employer, termination from his employment is very likely and definitely on the table
Mike
April 28th, 2010
6:15 pm
If the newspaper can bring in $50,000,000 like the football players do, then their organization should get a break on SAT requirements, if that’s the barrier between $50,000,000 a year.
But SAT requirements, have nothing to do with requiring higher ethical requirements.
All students must be treated with the same ethical expectations and punishments.
hiccup
April 28th, 2010
6:41 pm
boo hoo
AltamahaDawg
April 28th, 2010
6:42 pm
In summary:
1. Student/Athlete package is a self conatained package. fair or not, both parties agree to it. The “perks” or $ are not even part of the conversation about getting in trouble. Thats a completely seperate issue.
2. The notoriety carries baggage. That’s a choice that was made.
3. Not a higher moral standard than the average student, ( and they are convered by those AS a student as well) so the offence isnt any worse comparitively. in short, not thugs.
4. Getting in trouble endagers the continuance of #1 above. Thats not a “higher” standard than a student, just a completely different contractual issue.
chazzo
April 28th, 2010
7:03 pm
ugaaccountant,
Your definitions simply are not correct. This has nothing to do with liberals, conservatives, libertarians, communists, tea parties, none, zip nada. By definition, the writer of the article in question, the writer of what you are calling a liberal student newspaper, is taking a conservative point of view. You are simply throwing terms around that mean nothing and do nothing for your argument. These ill-defined terms do little more than polarize and draw lines in ways that disallow any genuine discourse or any solution to the problem at hand.
GaDawg
April 28th, 2010
7:19 pm
When one accepts an athletic scholarship he becomes locked into a contract that he must deliver on. If he cannot focus on fulfilling that contract to the very best of his ability, he should not agree to it in the first place. Alcohol is an obstacle to ones ability to focus on the task at hand. The athlete must be so committed to his task at hand that he will want to avoid all obstacles that might interfere with his ability to stay focused. This quality of character is sometimes referred to as self discipline. If the athlete can’t stay focused; he can’t finish the drill.
Burn my Black and Red…………….Never!
Dawg 39
April 28th, 2010
7:57 pm
I am the moron who thinks that they do go to class. The main perk in being a college athlete is to be afforded the opportunity to get a college education. There are a lot of kids who can’t afford to go to college. Getting a free education is a major deal financially & otherwise. The athletes s/b grateful for the opportunity.
chazzo
April 28th, 2010
8:18 pm
patrick,
All said and done, I bet you I could find a thousand guys that would give their left one to have the opportunity that these guys have. They might not break any records, but I’d bet they’d win some championships.
The Eternal Pessimist
April 28th, 2010
8:47 pm
It might not be fair to treat the athletes differently. But who ever said life was fair? The athletes are role models. They would be role models to the local kids if they were playing at podunk state. That’s just part of being an athlete, and anytime people look up to you there is going to be increased scrutiny on your behaviour. That’s just part of the bargain. I think it’s irresponsible to excuse bad behaviour, but hypocritical to be overly judgmental. I would be interested to know if anyone on the R&B staff ever had a drink before they were 21; I would find it hard to believe that none of them did. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
I think the kid who wrote the response to Aron’s letter is probably just trying to shtup the chick who wrote the original column. Anyone?
Camden Mark
April 28th, 2010
8:55 pm
Athletes when all is said and done should only be held to a slightly higher standard.They are after all still kids same as any student.Don’t know why Zach was booted but its a shame,one strike and ur out.
Under the rules of good manners players like Aron did should speak thier mind,nothing wrong with that at all.
I am the dog
April 28th, 2010
9:35 pm
patrick…..players raise no money for the team….UGA made 40 mill selling swag out of Dollar Gen and Wal-mart
patrick
April 28th, 2010
9:38 pm
CHazzo……..the S/As do give a left one. Its call hours on hours of practice……if those thousand guys did that theymight just be S/As.
patrick
April 28th, 2010
9:40 pm
Numb nutz…..if it were not for the exploits of the players no one would buy the swag.
StingBuzz
April 28th, 2010
9:42 pm
Higher standard? What a joke! Most of these football players can barely read and get in UGA only because they can play football and make money for the University of football. They couldn’t get in with regular rules—then once they get to town, they start drinking and getting arrested–yes, different standards at UGA for football players!!!