Picture this – You’ve worked hard your whole life to become the best competitive swimmer you could be. You’ve dedicated your life to the sport, and one fantastic day, you find yourself wearing the red, white and blue, proudly representing your country at the Olympic games. Things couldn’t be better, and understandably, you’re on top of the world.
But then there’s that diver who’s always hanging around you. He’s been talking bad about you, spreading rumors, maybe even a little cyberstalking. On top of all that, he’s kind of effeminate and you think he might not be diving for the right team, if you get my drift.
So you beat his face in. While yelling slurs. Well, you told your coach first, but that didn’t work out, and what’s the use of talking to more than one person? That’s no way to solve problems.
And of course, since you’re a big shot athlete at the Olympics, the media jumps on this even though they only have a preliminary police report. Things aren’t looking too good now that ‘hate crime’ is being tossed around.
So you call your dad in as quick as you can and blame the victim. Problem solved, right?
We should never accept this kind of behavior from our Olympians, someone painting a picture of our country for the world, so why should we relax our standards for a quarterback here on campus? EdBoard has insisted that Mr. Willis must not be made an example of. Unfortunately, it’s far too late for that now. That moment passed when the derogatory slurs and the fists began flying. Now it’s time for a precedent to be set, one way or the other. Willis will become an example. Either violent assault is tolerated, or sincere consequences will be enforced when a hate crime takes place.
Of course, it must first be found that a hate crime assault, without a doubt, did take place. Here, EdBoard contradicts itself; in Wednesday’s opinion piece, the editors argued that Judicial Affairs has no place in suspending Willis from the football field. And indeed it hasn’t. As stated in Mark Norris’ article, “Willis suspension due to assault,” “The decision to suspend Willis came from conversations involving SMU President R. Gerald Turner, SMU Athletic Director Steve Orsini and head coach Phil Bennett.” Judicial Affairs is simply pursuing its investigation while the athletics division has chosen to suspend Willis while they wait for the results. And rightly so. Because maybe the situation isn’t as grim as the initial evidence makes it seem, but there’s a good possibility it’s worse.
Why should we allow a suspected thug to serve as our university’s representative? Why should we proudly send him on the field to wear our red and blue until this matter is better understood? Just because he may be an asset to the team, we can say, “Shucks, the poor kid made a mistake and I bet he’s real torn up about it, just let him play?”
SMU has made the mistake before of sacrificing too much to the all-powerful gods of football, but this time the consequences could be more subtle and sinister than the infamous ‘death penalty.’ As a university, we are trying very hard to be recognized. Look at street names and school colors and see how much SMU would like to keep the academic company of institutions like Harvard and Yale. Encouraging violence and discriminatory hate over more rational channels of discussion, rewarding football players with a free pass, and cherishing violent athletes over the safety of the student population are all good ways to make a name for your school. And that name is not ‘a highly regarded member of the academic elite.’
High school seniors, potential donors and world-class professors won’t think too much about SMU’s innumerable good qualities. They’ll remember that SMU is the school where minorities get their faces beaten while assailants are celebrated the next Saturday. President Turner and the athletics division have recognized this and are waiting patiently for facts. And if they didn’t, it would be our responsibility, as those who care about this university, to hold them to that standard.
Justin Willis is a representative of our school. It’s time to treat him accordingly.
About the writer:
Travis Acreman is a sophomore theatre major. He can be reached at [email protected].
