TCU drug scandal inflated

By Michael Lauck     2/22/12 6:00pm

Last week, Americans were exposed to the horrible fact that college students engage in illegal activities while on campus. Even worse, football players commit the same sorts of crimes that the general student population does. Who knew?

I'm talking about last week when Texas Christian University, a college in Fort Worth of about 9,000 enrolled undergraduates, was gripped in scandal when 17 students, including four football players, were arrested on suspected drug-dealing charges. This is not only a blemish on the school, but on the upcoming athletic program which makes its debut in the Big 12 conference next year.

Because I used to attend TCU, I thought I would share a few thoughts on the incidents this week to give students at Rice an insider view of the situation as well as a few thoughts as to what we in the Rice community can learn.

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First, TCU does not have a visible drug problem whatsoever. That is to say, it's not an issue if a student wishes to abstain or avoid the drug community present at the school. I did, as did a majority of the students I came into contact with during my time at TCU. Students I knew who did do drugs did mild ones such as marijuana. I never heard of anyone doing hard drugs such as cocaine or ecstasy, although that's not to say it wasn't present. Alcohol, of course, was the main choice of mind-altering substance. In this particular case, the media blew the problem way out of proportion.

Second, most people in their late teens or beyond have access to information on who to contact to obtain drugs. This story was only particularly scandalous because the football team became involved and because of the number of students arrested. In any case, only five players have tested positive for drugs. Until any more facts are revealed, it seems as if this is a minor problem that can easily be dealt with. The fact that it all came out at once is what makes it a top story.

That brings me to my last point. My primary criticism of the situation is that it shows how poorly TCU's Office of Student Affairs is run. This situation could have just as easily been addressed over a longer period of time. Arresting a drug dealer here and there to show that TCU has the drug situation under control could have been just as effective without the media scrutiny. It would have even deterred some students from dealing. Instead, having 17 students arrested at one time makes it into a large media circus, creating a disruption for students, professors and everyone associated with theTCU community.

This incident is not the first time a case involving athletes was horribly mishandled by TCU officials. Back in 2006, a woman accused two athletes of sexually assaulting her in her dormitory. One of the athletes had a criminal record and had numerous cases of misconduct as well as academic problems. While the athletes were never charged, the woman still sued the school and settled out of court.

If taken care of over time or addressed early, situations do not become public and never hit national news. The fact that this and other cases have gotten to such a level makes it clear that TCU cannot handle a potential situation until it becomes too much to address quietly.

Rice students and administrators should ask, "What can we learn from this incident?" Basically, the thing is to address problems and not turn a blind eye to them until they become too big to handle. If TCU had not been focused so much on taking pride in being a school with a clean record, it could have caught this problem early. Instead, I and many other columnists around the country are writing about it.

What's also unfortunate is that many TCU students seem to be ignoring this frequent problem by saying that drugs are present on every campus and that the media is blowing the situation out of proportion. While they are somewhat correct, they also need to be asking the administration why situations such as this one are allowed to become so immense before they are addressed.

All in all, university students everywhere need to question their administrations to make sure that situations are better handled so that they do not have to explain the truth to people whenever their school is involved in a scandal.

Michael Lauck is a Lovett College junior.

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