In the wake of the Rutgers’ basketball scandal, the real question remains: How could this have gone on for so long? 

After tapes were released earlier this week showing Rutgers men’s basketball coach Mike Rice hurling homophobic slurs at players and ruthlessly pushing them around, the Rutgers University sports program has come under fire for the way they have handled this situation. Not only are the videotapes of their basketball practices horrifying, they are completely shocking. Now that athletic director Tim Pernetti has resigned, I can’t help but wonder how the demeaning treatment of their players by a coach went on for as long as it did. Granted, Rice was suspended last December for three games and fined $50,000 when these actions were first reported to Pernetti. Yet a suspension and fine weren’t sufficient punishments; he should have been fired immediately. 

The mistake not to fire Rice when the incident first occurred is disappointing, seeing as these players were attacked in a multitude of ways. A coach may try to get his players fired up with a more intense approach to practice, but there are certain lines a coach cannot cross. Hitting players with blocking mats, chucking basketballs at them and viciously assaulting their character are undoubtedly things no coach should do. He was not acting as a mentor to these players – he was a bully in its purest form. 

The greatest disappointment is that University leaders enabled him to continue degrading these young men despite knowing of Rice’s erratic and shameful behaviors in the first place. 

Coaches at any level – be it professional or little league — have to be held accountable for their words and actions because ultimately, these people play enormously influential roles in their players’ lives. Coaches instill values. Coaches teach lessons that go beyond the playing field. Coaches support and reassure their players that if at first they don’t succeed, they need to try again. Still at a point in players’ lives where they are being shaped by the environment around them and into the adults they will become, it’s absurd to even think a coach would do this.

University officials must also re-examine disciplinary procedures and reform them accordingly. 

Pernetti wasn’t the only school official to see the videotapes. The University’s legal counsel and human resource CFO saw them as well. Though University President Robert L. Barchi claimed that he hadn’t seen the videos until they surfaced this week, but he was aware of Rice’s behavior when it was first reported last fall. This wasn’t a case where his actions could be reversed. Rehabilitation wasn’t a plausible solution. And though students have rallied behind their school president, some even still in support of their former coach, these tragic turn of events should speak to the larger picture: Some things are not acceptable. Period. 

Perhaps it wasn’t even necessary that he had seen the videotapes to make a judgment call — one set of eyes from a university official should have been enough. Turning a blind eye certainly was the wrong decision. Rice’s reprehensible misconduct was grossly disturbing to witness. 

But these scandals do not just pertain to universities’ respective sports programs. Academic institutions need to foster a morally conscious environment. 

It has become commonplace around the nation for a variety of schools to seemingly ignore practical ethics. The treatment of athletes should be no different than that of other students — athletes are students too.

The atmosphere at these schools and institutions should be taken into high regard across all programs and initiatives. Rutgers failed to make the right decision from the get go – did they not take their University’s esteem into regards? 

Hopefully, other programs around the country understand the implications behind what has happened at Rutgers. In this way, we do not have to just look at this as a scandal related to a sports program, team, individual player or coach – we can look at this as a lesson reflective of blatant disregard for the morals and prestige of a university as a whole.  

After all, these are institutions of higher learning. 

Imran is a sophomore in LAS. He can be reached at [email protected].