Claire Fahy
Editor-in-Chief
Katie Hnida. Yeardley Love. Charlottesville. Boulder. And now Steubenville.
The names of small towns and close-knit communities rocked by scandals involving athletes’ inexplicable exploits have been rendered infamous.
In our current culture, athletes have come to consider themselves above the law. It starts in high school, when sports stars start skipping class or failing to turn in assignments
due to their triumphs on the court, pitch or track. This becomes a dangerous pattern as suddenly social and legal regulations cease to apply.
The reputations of these athletes are blown up to be so big that they can literally get away with murder. In Charlottesville, University of Virginia lacrosse player George Huguely V beat his ex-girlfriend, Yeardley Love, to death after arguing with her about breaking up with him. Huguely was sentenced to 23 years in jail, but only after he had taken Love away forever.
At the University of Colorado, Boulder, a female football kicker endured years of sexual harassment from her team before being sexually assaulted by a teammate after she invited him over to watch a movie. Head coach Gary Barnett attributed the incident to Hnida’s lack of respect from fellow teammates stemming from the fact she was “a girl” and a “terrible kicker.”
In one of the most recent cases of this troubling tradition, two Ohio high school football players allegedly raped an unconscious female honor student multiple times at a party in August of this year.
These unfortunate occurrences are exhibitions of pure arrogance. These days, scholastic athletes are given such attention and showered with such adoration they are made out to be deities whose wills cannot possibly be refused.
While this presumptuous and imperious behavior sometimes reaches the point of being criminal, it is not only the athletes who are at fault. Entire school communities participate in the worship of these teenagers, building them up to the point where they feel they are invincible.
We must revoke the undue power we have given athletes, especially those in high school. Although this superficial status quo has been engrained in our culture for decades, it is time to rewrite our rituals. No one has the power to harm others, and no one should feel they are entitled to.
