In the wake of yet another scandal, this time by Michigan State involving former U.S.A. gymnastics doctor and Michigan State physician Larry Nessar. As Nessar was sentenced to over 75 years in prison, stories began to come out that Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo, football coach Mark Dantonio, AD Mark Hollis and NCAA president Mark Emmert knew what was going on but did not act accordingly. Instead, the university, like Penn State and Baylor protected its image over people. You can read the ESPN article right here. As a result of this scandal, Michigan State president Lou Anna Simon resigned and AD Mark Hollis retired. Anyone who knew what Nessar and the players were doing including NCAA President Mark Emmert, shouldn’t see another paycheck again and on top of that, face criminal charges for not protecting students and abuse of power.
It’s time to stop giving universities a pass and time to start punishing them for their crimes. Giving university sports teams the death penalty, fines, vacated wins or reduce scholarships are minor but not effective. Those are just a slap on the wrist but there is one way to punish a university for its actions that would be felt for years and that’s by taking away public funding from them. By taking away public funds from universities who commit crimes would send a strong message to anyone who is covering up crimes in order to protect a school’s image. What Michigan State, Penn State and, Baylor did were awful and the states of Pennsylvania, Texas and, Michigan shouldn’t give those universities public funds. Instead, those funds along with the paychecks of those covering up the scandal could go to charities like RAINN, NSVRC, Joyful Heart Foundation and others to help the victims of sexual violence.
As for the student-athletes not involved in these scandals, if they wish to transfer to another university, they should be allowed to do so without serving a one-year penalty. In the NCAA rules for student-athletes, if a player transfers to another university, they must sit out a year before playing or can resume playing if they transfer to an FCS school or lower. For the rest of the students who don’t play sports but wish to transfer too, they should be allowed to leave without any questions asked. By taking these actions, the healing can begin for the victims while sending a message to those who still do these awful acts and to quote a song by Twisted Sister “We’re not gonna take it anymore”.
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