COLUMN: U response sets poor example

From Jeffrey Snyder's, "Snyde Remarks," Fall '98 From Jeffrey Snyder's, "Snyde Remarks," Fall '98The University must take full responsibility for failure to comply with NCAA rules. From Jeffrey Snyder's, "Snyde Remarks," Fall '98The University must take full responsibility for failure to comply with NCAA rules.The University of Pennsylvania, like most academic institutions, claims to be an academic community where students, faculty, administrators and others interact for the common purpose of producing a product, that product being knowledge. In each individual's pursuit of this common goal, there are certain rules that each person must play by so as to provide fairness and standards. Similarly, in academia students attend courses, write papers and take exams with the understanding that they will not plagiarize, copy or submit the work of others. Faculty members teach courses, publish and research ideas, but cannot falsify results or steal ideas. When these rules are not followed, it reflects poorly on the University. This idea seems rather simple, but let's apply the same reasoning to the recent Mitch Marrow incident. Marrow, a star player on the men's varsity football team, dropped two of his original four courses last semester, making him ineligible to play under National Collegiate Athletic Association rules. He probably had no idea the rule existed, and if he did, assumed the athletic department would tell him if there was a problem. But Marrow had already played seven games while ineligible when the department first realized his status -- not Mitch's fault, but nonetheless very unfortunate. At that point, the only honest way out was to report the transgression to the Ivy League and the NCAA. In a similar incident this year at Penn State University, full disclosure allowed the team to avoid forfeiting any games. Instead, the individual player who violated NCAA regulations by accepting gifts -- specifically a suit -- for an award show was forced to sit out of the school's bowl game. The NCAA subsequently dropped the incident. But at Penn, the athletic department attempted a cover-up operation. Penn's representative to the NCAA -- a Wharton professor -- dreamed up an independent study course and the athletic department tried to get it approved weeks and weeks after the add deadline. The point here, however, is not to discuss the specifics of the Marrow incident, but rather the result. The football team has been forced to forfeit most of its season and the University received a great deal of nationwide negative press. A dishonest attempt to solve the problem ended up damaging Penn's reputation. To return to the football analogy, instead of an incomplete pass, we lost the catch and were also flagged for a 15-yard penalty. Now it's 3rd and long and it won't be easy to make up for the infraction. The University's internal investigative committee laid most of the responsibility on Marrow -- despite clear lapses of responsibility within the Athletic Department. Blaming Marrow for such an obvious failure on the part of athletic officials is cowardly and shows the University's continued unwillingness to take full responsibility for what occurred. Now, if University President Judith Rodin were concerned about the integrity of the University or the rules of fair play in an academic community, she should take a hard line stance. She should make examples of those in the Athletic Department who dreamed up this idea by sanctioning them. And Shropshire should be removed as NCAA representative and reprimanded at the very least. It's that simple. The integrity of the University cannot be compromised. Administrators and faculty must be held to the same standards as students regarding honesty. If a student commits a flagrant act of academic dishonesty he or she is in jeopardy of being asked to leave Penn -- if only for a semester. Similarly, administrators and faculty who compromise the University's values must be terminated -- no second chances and no questions asked. In short, the University needs to remember its motto: "Leges Sine Moribus Vanae" or "laws without morals are in vain." Penn's faculty members and administrators must remember that, as elders and as teachers, they are obligated to set an example for students who look to them for knowledge. The University cannot expect students to respect rules such as the "Code of Academic Integrity" if others in the so-called academic community flagrantly ignore rules, common sense and their conscience on a regular basis. When the University fails to uphold the rules of fair play, just like in football, a penalty is assessed. The difference is that when your integrity and reputation is at stake, you cannot replay the down.