When did teenagers, especially those of voting age, become so cynical? How can we, as responsible adults, teach them that working within the system can bring about change when it rarely does in their world?
Case in point, the Niagara University athletic department has made national, not just regional, headlines recently. Four members of the University’s basketball team were charged with misdemeanors resulting for a pummelling of a baseball player in a bar parking lot. Yes, the event did take place off campus. Yes, the University athletic department “said” all the right things in the press. Yes, everyone is waiting for the next judicial step.
The unfortunate part is that no one on campus thinks anything different will happen. Even students as young as first semester freshmen say the basketball players will be at their first practice. Of course, the University says they will wait until the judicial proceedings are finished before invoking whatever their investigation leads to. Is this too little, too late? Why, when athletes are required to sign paperwork giving away a lot of their rights to be able to play a division 1 sport, must the University wait until the judicial steps are finished? And if the first semester freshmen are cynical, you ought to hear what the students who have been on campus for a while are saying. “The basketball team has done this before”, not a person but the team. Older members of female sports teams tell the freshmen girls to steer clear of most of the guys on the basketball team.
When will the system work?
