In some sense, if you chose to play sports at Brigham Young University, you knew what you’re getting into, but in another sense this is the dumbest thing I’ve read in my life.
A university in the US state of Utah has suspended a star basketball player for having pre-marital sex with his girlfriend in violation of the school’s strict “honour code”.
Brandon Davies was dropped after admitting the transgression to staff at Brigham Young University (BYU).
His team, ranked 3rd in the nation in college basketball, went on to lose against an unranked team on Wednesday.
The BYU honour code requires students to be “chaste and virtuous”.
BYU officials have defended the decision after the news was first reported by the Salt Lake Tribune, saying that students are fully aware of the rigorous code, and often choose the school because of it.
“We live this. This is who we are,” said Tom Holmoe, BYU athletic director.
I’m actually in favor of making student-athletes live up to a high standard of personal conduct. But having sex with your girlfriend (or boyfriend) is a pretty integral part of the college experience. You can give up keg stands and bong hits, but let’s not be ridiculous. If he slapped his girlfriend? Yeah, go ahead and kick him off the team, or even out of the university. If he made love to her? Leave him alone.
This is a funny one, because it is in their rules and at least the official version of campus culture. I would say that if the average student would have faced some sort of academic discipline for the same actions it makes sense to suspend the athlete. Athletes should not be above the rules, but nor should they be held to a higher standard.
Just ’cause I think its a silly rule doesn’t mean the school can’t have it. Then again that is probably the least of the reasons it didn’t occur to me to attend BYU.
Is th4 rule applied uniformly? Does the fact this athlete happens to have a black skin have anything to do with this? Is his girlfriend white?
This is an idiotic thing. It is VERY unfair to the other athletes on the team, first, and it is unfair to the students in general. It is further extremely strong punishment for a possibly spur-of-the-moment decision.
I hope BYU loses in the first round of the tournament. This rule is idiotic. I can’t imagine another athlete going there after this extremely strict ruling.
I can’t tell if she is white, but she is a pretty pale person. I really wonder if this is a “no race mixing” issue, not a “no screwing” deal.
Who knows .. but they stopped overtly being a racist institution about 30 years ago or so .. just look at where a lot of their football players come from .. American Samoa .. places like that
Funny you should bring up American Samoa. That is where the last 2 persons who ran into this “no fucking” problem cam from. I think they are a bunch of racist mofos.
It really doesn’t matter how stupid the policy is; what matters is if you’re stupid enough to pledge to follow it. All students at BYU do so and deserve what they get, stupid or not.
I wonder if they have a policy against lesser sexual acts.
Boo:
I am sure you are aware how they usually find these things out. I’d be willing to bet that it’s because the girl gets pregnant. I’d also have to ask these two why they weren’t using birth control.
Yeah, a 2 game suspension for masturbating.
Mormons stupid based on what? Making the rule or enforcing it?
The can’t drink caffeine either.
No worries.
He knew what he was signing up for.
Now he can sign with an NBA for mega millions. Dennis Rodman and a few exKnick can show him how to operate under a different code of conduct.
Apparently the rule is not a secret among students. As long as the university applies the rule uniformly, he knew exactly what he was signing up for.
Hell yes it’s stupid. But not any more irrational and ridiculous than a thousand and one other religiously motivated beliefs and practices that have crept into the American mainstream. Don’t expect a religious institution to fit into any kind of mold that most of us would consider rational.
I can’t for the life of me figure out how Jim McMahon got through BYU without getting expelled. Reading between the lines of this article, it might have been a near thing.
That McMahon was at odds with all the rules and regulations at the school that’s owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was made clear when he was asked about his favorite memory of BYU.
McMahon’s response: “Leaving.”
That’s an oil and water combo.
he’s Black, went to BYU, and decided to mess with Snowflake. what did he think was gonna happen?
at some point, you have to get out of fantasyland, and wake up to what you have to do in order to make it through the likes of BYU.
as a Black woman, I just don’t have any sympathy for this kid thinking that he wouldn’t be required to follow the codes ‘to the letter’. if he knows 10 White players doing the same thing, so what. He’s a Black man in America and should know better. he could go to any division one school in America – he chose to go to BYU. follow their rules or get out.
Basically, however you want to regard it, mormons are a bunch of racists. They just changed their theology about 10 years ago to allow black people into heaven. This is simply another case where a black guy is screwing a white woman, and that’s not acceptable.
Interestingly, she’s on the volleyball team. Has she been thrown off that team?
See, BYU, this is why FSU beat you senseless. Premarital sex was practically part of our curriculum.