Syracuse Lacrosse: The Kevin Drew Conundrum
by Sean Keeley on Feb 7, 2012 9:00 AM EST
in Syracuse Lacrosse
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When word broke that Kevin Drew was back with the Syracuse Orange lacrosse team, let alone still an active student at the University, the fanbase did a collective look-away and just put their heads in the sand.
As a reminder, here's what Drew was charged with following a DWI arrest that ended with a cop kicking him in the chest: Driving while intoxicated, resisting arrest, driving through a stop sign, speeding, hit and run, failure to comply and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
Even Marcus Sales was like, "Daaaaaamn."
That he's back with the program so quickly (three months later) made a lot of people wonder if he received special treatment because he's a lacrosse player. A recent Daily Orange article by Beckie Strum basically proves that the answer is...yes.
The article compares the DWI cases of Drew and Ryan Forman, whom you know better as the guy who drove his Range Rover into the Mount Olympus stairs a few month back.
Despite the fact that Forman was charged with far less infractions, had the same BAC as Drew and wasn't driving a car owned by a university employee, Forman is currently suspended from SU for the spring semester. Drew, who withdrew from SU following the October incident, was able to re-apply for spring.
The SU's Judicial Handbook guidelines says that driving while intoxicated should result in "indefinite suspension for a minimum of one academic term," amongst other things. SU officials quoted in the article say that there is no exact rule for determining punishment for these situations.
Let us not demonize Drew here, as he recently finished a 28-day alcohol treatment program and is not yet allowed to play with the team. He's done everything one could expect from a guy after such an incident. An according to Coach Desko, "he has been punished and will continue to fulfill his consequences."
However at the end of the day, perception is reality. SU officials can deny that preferential treatment is in play all they want, but it sure doesn't look that way.
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who cares. This sounds like an article you would read on orangefizz.net. In other words…terrible and only trying to cause a stir.
I am personally going to start the petition to stop shaking keys on third downs in The Dome.
Trying to cause a stir?
How about trying to reveal a possible unfair playing ground? Sometimes athletes take more heat than they should for transgressions, but sometimes (as it appears here) athletes get away with things other SU students wouldn’t. I think that’s worth investigating and exposing.
Clear eyes, full bologna sandwiches!
I may have this all wrong but...
didn’t Drew get pulled over off campus?
The other kid smashed into school property on campus.
Driving drunk on campus (in a walkway) sounds pretty bad.
Seems different.
Fixed this for you:
Driving drunkon campus (in a walkway) sounds prettyis bad.
Driving drunk is bad no matter what. Throw in hit and run, resisting arrest, driving without a license? Yea, I don’t see how it’s terribly different. I guess I might buy that because one happened on school property and the other didn’t the school takes a harder line, but knowing first-hand how SU Judicial Services operates, I don’t think that usually matters. If you are an SU student who screws up with the law (even a little) and the school has knowledge of it, you face consequences.
Clear eyes, full bologna sandwiches!
Damaging school property is another, separate violation of the Code of Student Conduct
So actually, in that regard, priestp’s post makes a point.
Another thing that we need to keep in mind, though, is when these occurred. Drew’s happened in October, the Mt. Olympus guy’s happened almost at the end of the semester, no? It is common that, towards the end of a semester when facing a suspension, you can be given the option to finish out the semester, or you can take your suspension then (but then basically all of the work you’ve done over practically a whole semester goes to waste). People rarely take the latter, AFAIK. A “semester long suspension” isn’t necessarily a semester long. If the suspension means you do not finish the current semester, the current semester counts as one suspended semester. So unless the Mount Olympus guy didn’t finish the fall semester- and I find it hard to believe his case worked it’s way through the system reasonably fast enough to not allow him to take finals- he and Drew will be spending the same amount of time away from campus by university judicial standards.
There has only been one perfect man, and they crucified him.
May Doug Marrone bless you and keep you.
It doesn't matter where things occur
Getting a DUI driving a car in on campus, off campus in Syracuse, Fayetteville, New Jersey, Los Angeles or Istanbul all carry the same weight at SU. That goes for any infraction that manages to get back to the university.
Lots of kids get DUIs in college
and nothing ever happens. If it happens off campus, the university may never find out or turns a blind eye to it. I can think of 5 or 6 kids I knew or knew of while at SU (not athletes) who got pulled over drunk. Two of them with drugs as well. If the University suspended everyone who got pulled over it would look really bad on them.
Most DUIs now-a-days are handled by traffic court, not criminal court and first offenders get dropped after a period of a suspended license and classes. Odds are Kevin was told to do treatment (as a sign of good faith) and his charge will be Nolle Prosequi, meaning they dont pursue it but still have the option to do so if he gets another one. This is very common. The other charges were likely dropped because of the kick to the chest and because of the fact that the Syracuse Court has better things to do than bring him up on a “driving without a license” charge. They would have to bring the officer in (likely on OT) and end up paying that guy more than the fine is worth. Then they would have to have the guy answer the question of “was kicking a drunk kid in the chest excessive?” and boom… it gets thrown out anyways. I got out of a speeding ticket in NY State because the guy spelled my address wrong. I then argued that if he couldnt read my license for whatever reason (perhaps he was tired) he probably also misread the radar gun (theres no way I was going 92 up hill in a 15 year old 4cyl toyota truck anyways). It doesnt take much.
As for the kid who crashed into the mount, he damaged university property (in a range rover so fuck that guy). The University had to take action. Its hands were tied. However, had he hit a pole on Sumner, that kid would still be in school. No doubt.
The DO should dig a little deeper and see how instances that happen off campus are typically dealt with before trying to argue that athletes get special treatment. Especially ones from non-revenue sports.
May Doug Marrone bless you and keep you.
It's all about whether or not it gets back to the school for anything happening off campus
And if that something happens in the city of Syracuse, you can pretty much bank on it getting back to the school. And whatever happens in courts, for the most part, has little to no bearing on how the school gives out sanctions. It is impossible for the school to operate in the same way as the court systems, and distancing itself from court proceedings has pros and cons.
If the kid drunkenly hit a pole on Sumner, yes, he would have been suspended from school. If he just got pulled over for DUI without hitting anything anywhere in Syracuse, he would have been suspended by the school. It’s possible if it happened on Long Island it would not have gotten back to the school and nothing would have happened.
Again, because this is an academic institution using academic standards, the two missed the same amount of time (one semester of missed credits). The “outrage” is supposed to be over the school technically not suspending Drew, yet he took himself out of school. If he didn’t, you can bet that the school would have. If he’s going to give himself the standard sanction, why clog up the judicial system and give him what he’s already self-imposing?
And whatever happens in courts, for the most part, has little to no bearing on how the school gives out sanctions
Thats not true at all. Almost every time the statement from the school is “we are going to wait until the legal proceedings have played out before we take action.” If the case gets thrown out, then the university will react much differently than if the student were convicted of a crime. Most DUI first offenders will get thrown out and provided they never get another one, it will be expunged from their record after some amount of time.
Could you imagine if the university suspended everyone right off the bat? Now think about someone who has sequenced courses. Missing one would set them back a year.
May Doug Marrone bless you and keep you.
It is true
I have seen cases where, for example, a mass larceny occurred on campus and had to go through the city courts first, where it was thrown out on a technicality, and the school went forward with charges. I’ve also seen the courts go forward with charges while the school threw them out. Both happen quite often.
A court has to find you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The standards at the university are “more likely than not”. Again, this has major pros and cons, but it is impossible to expect the school to be able to act in the same way as a court. Because of those different standards of proof, what happens in a court room can’t have bearing on how the school acts.
Or at least the result can't have bearing
Something presented in court can be brought to the school
So yeah, this is pretty much just another hack job piece by an uninformed DO writer trying to rile people up
Either that or a crappy piece by a bad DO writer that doesn’t include vital information for us to believe that there’s a difference in how the two cases were treated.
Let's all be honest here
I’m as big a lacrosse fan as you can be. I’m incredibly happy that Kevin Drew is back on the team, because I think he’s essential to their success and has unique skills that would be hard to replace by just one guy.
However …
If you sit here and pretend he didn’t get special treatment on this issue, you’re either incredibly naive or just putting your head in the sand.
It’s not a hack job piece. It’s not just trying to cause a stir. It’s a statement of fact.
The truth is, most students who the school knows of that get charged with a DUI get way worse punishments than Drew. I’m perfectly fine with this, because I want him back on the field, but the facts are the facts, and I won’t deny that he got helped by the fact that he’s on the lax team.
http://cusepulp.blogspot.com/
I don't see what is preferential
By academic standards, both Drew and Forman received the same sanctions, as far as the article tells us. The only difference is the university decided not to bother with Drew because he voluntarily took himself out of school for the rest of the semester instead of having them suspend him (as well as taking himself to AA), and Drew just happened to be on campus for a month and a half. It’s akin to a football team violating NCAA rules, giving itself a sanction, and the NCAA doesn’t take those any further because they agree with them. That isn’t the NCAA turning a blind eye and doing nothing. The article implies that the school basically did nothing. What else was there to do? Make him go to OJA so they can tell them he’s suspended for the rest of the semester he’s already withdrawn himself from?
While Forman will be away from the campus longer than Drew was, that has everything to do with timing, not being an athlete. The time Drew was on campus for has completely gone to waste. From a student’s perspective, Forman actually makes out better because he doesn’t waste a whole semester of his life like Drew did. He got to be suspended for a full semester ahead of time, which allows him to get credits at OCC.
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