In case you haven’t heard by now, a promising kid by the name of Brandon Davies was kicked off of Brigham Young University’s basketball team because of sex. No, he didn’t hire a hooker or have a Charlie Sheen style hotel party that involved porn stars and a briefcase full of cocaine. He simply had premarital sex with his girlfriend.
Apparently that breaks BYU’s honour code, a big no-no.
Well, I’ve got two things to say about this whole saga: First, good for the school for enforcing its core beliefs. Second, bad on the school for hurting a player’s future because of an antiquated honour code.
As far as I have ever heard, BYU might be the first school to actively hurt its NCAA title chances for kicking a key player off the team for a legal act. The school is destined for a very high seed in the coming March Madness and with the nation’s best scorer, Jimmer Fredette, and a reliable low-post threat like Davies, it could have gone deep into March. This honour code obviously means more to the school than glory on a basketball court, so good for it for sticking by it.
But, have you looked at this honour code? Not only are students not allowed premarital sex, booze or drugs and must attend church regularly, they must use “clean†language and not drink coffee and tea either. Aren’t every one of those things a part of the ideal college experience? I can totally understand the first few things on the grounds of religion, but coffee and tea being prohibited? How are you supposed to stay awake through an 8 a.m. philosophy class?
Also, how did the school find out about this premarital sex incident? Did they bug the kid’s room to see if he violated the honour code?
At the very least, we should not ignore a story like this when filling out our brackets next week. I wouldn’t take BYU to go too far. And if it does, don’t expect a champagne celebration either.