Athlete violence sparks awareness

Recent violent instances covered in professional football are providing an unfair generalization of all NFL players as being violent individuals playing a violent sport.

The Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was officially released by the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the NFL after a video showed Rice striking his then fiancée.

Other NFL players are currently under investigation for their role in domestic violence including Ray McDonald, Greg Hardy and, most recently, Adrian Peterson.

This generalization trickles down to USD athletes, including an incident last year where two USD football players were dismissed from the team after shooting a BB gun at people from their room in Coyote Village.

Cases of violence get people talking about these issues and increase awareness. The acts of a few carry a bad reputation for the many.

With sports being such a big money maker for colleges, instances involving sexual and domestic violence not only impact those who have committed the crime and the victims, but reflect poorly on the rest of the team, the administration and the college.

Here at USD, if a non-athlete were to commit either domestic or sexual violence against another person, chances are the case would not reflect poorly on the university.

If it were to be an athlete, the case reflects poorly on the player, but also on the entire team, coaches and the university due to sports being in the public eye.

This is the sad truth about the world we live in today. Due to athletes being in the public eye, they are punished for simply being associated with those who have committed the crime.

Teammates who were friends with the criminal might be judged for not stepping up and stopping the crime from being committed. This would be fair if they were present at the time of the crime or saw signs of abuse happening, but simply being associated with the person is unfair.

They will be generalized as being a bunch of dumb jocks who are violent persons playing a violent sport. When a select few are the ones committing the acts, that shouldn’t punish or generalize those who have done nothing wrong.

As a society we need to stand up and prevent these from happening but not punish people simply because they are associated with the perpetrator. And the victim should never be blamed.

Now, the violence topic isn’t going away soon, and the university is working to change the national trend of sexual assaults on campus.

Domestic violence and sexual assault are becoming more prevalent, and it’s not only a problem for athletes, said Kim Grieve, vice president of Student Affairs and dean of students.

“I saw something on the news that said that one in four women suffer from domestic violence, predominantly in the younger age groups such as college students,” Grieve said.

With those numbers being so high, this domestic violence case really connects to us here at USD and to colleges across the country.

Domestic violence and sexual assault are not the same thing, but are both related in the violation of individuals safety.

Grieve said students are aware of efforts to educate the public about violence, sexual or not.

“There is a new federal law that students need to be aware of not only stranger assault, but also domestic assault, dating assault and stalking,” Grieve said. “That information is in our Clery report and in our trainings as well.”

The University is required to submit a Clery report each year that reports all crime committed at and near the university.

Grieve also said cases like Rice’s help bring the conversation of domestic abuse to light.

“Hopefully it will get the word out that domestic assault is wrong, as is stranger assault and stranger violence,” Grieve said. “It is just wrong. To talk about it is a good thing and to have more information about these issues a good thing but at the end of the day, it is all wrong.”