The Real Risks of a Real Good Time
A major player on the national collegiate racing scene* will be markedly absent this year, and while the story is complicated, it can all be blamed on a party. Most collegiate teams hold parties of some kind. And, since it is collegiate cycling, it would be naive to believe that alcohol is never involved. While everyone knows that college parties can easily go awry and have dramatic consequences, it is often forgotten that even the most normal of parties can ruin things for everyone there, long after the party is over.
In May, a team with a long history of success in collegiate cycling held a party to celebrate another year of great racing. The season was over, finals were finished, and the Giro d'Italia was on TV. The team gathered at a house off campus for the annual post-season celebration, grilling burgers, roasting teammates with mock-awards, and viewing slides from the spring's long racing season. No big deal.
But the chill celebration transitioned into a house party as friends and acquaintances joined in the festivities. Still, just a party. There's usually at least one a night on most college campuses. Why was this one different?
We all know that athletes are representatives of their schools, and as a result, for better or worse, are held to a higher standard than many other students. But we also assume that this standard only applies to varsity athletes in sports like football and basketball; this isn't the case, and this cycling team learned that in an unfortunately difficult manner.
Of course, photos were taken. Riders wore school cycling caps and were photographed playing drinking games involving rollers and copious amounts of alcohol (certainly not the best idea in the first place). Soon after, a team member sent the pictures to the team’s public e-mail list, which included not only students, but also members of the local cycling community, alumni, and members of other teams.** Needless to say, the pictures worked their way back to the school administration.
A few days later, the team received letters of reprimand, informing them the school had received the photos, and a decision on their punishment would follow in the weeks to come. The team president states that “We thought we were in decent shape to avoid major punishment due to our team’s record of upstanding citizenship within the campus and local communities, both on and off the bike. We also cooperated fully with the University and suggested several other penalties along with probation that could teach lessons to our members and the campus-wide community.”
Normally, it is the school's policy that any disciplinary action goes through a council of students; everyone is judged by his or her peers. This is the case at many colleges and universities. However, once again, athletes are apparently held to a different standard, and the club sports and recreation departments reserved the right to reach a decision on their own. A month and a half later it did just that, and banned the team from representing the school in any way at any kind of collegiate bike race for one academic year. The appeals process lasted into September, but to no avail.
“This lack of judicial process surprised us as we thought we should be treated similarly to any student on campus as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct. It’s also unfortunate that they deemed such a severe punishment on the entire team, rather than the individuals involved in the pictures. It removed such a great source of stress-relief and exercise from the entire team, including people not even enrolled in the school yet, due to the actions of a select few.”
The team is now left to ride their bikes in solid-color jerseys, looking far up the road to the 2010-2011 season. Seniors lost their last chance to race, and the team even lost the chance to host the national championships, which they had put great efforts to bid on. The moral here is obvious and doesn't need to be spelled out; it's simply an unfortunate story of poor decisions with dire consequences. Lessons have certainly been learned. The team's advice: familiarize yourself with your schools policies regarding such matters. The team was eager to share their story with the whole of collegiate cycling, in an effort to protect other clubs from making the same mistakes they did. For that, at least, they should be commended.
*In deference to the team discussed here, the identity of the school for which it races will not be identified, nor will the team’s members be named.
**Even in teams where e-mail lists include members of the club exclusively, it is the policy of many schools that e-mail sent using institution list-servers are subject to random reading by any member of the upper administration. Please be careful what you write and send!
