The Syracuse University athletics department does not disclose the drug policy for student-athletes, citing privacy issues.

In light of Monday’s Yahoo! Sports report stating 10 members of the men’s basketball team cheated the system in the last decade and continued to practice and play after failing drug tests, SU Athletics should re-evaluate this decision. There is no compelling reason for the athletics department to keep the policy information private.

The Student Handbook, which lists the expectations and policies for students, is posted online and includes a section on the university’s drug policies. Drug policies for athletes are different than the average student’s in that athletes must undergo drug testing and face different sanctions for violations. But the availability of both policies to the public should not differ.

Posting the student-athlete policy online would help keep athletes accountable. If the rules and expectations are clearly laid out in an accessible space, athletes will have no excuse to not understand actions that are not permitted.

By posting the policies online, the athletics department can help debunk the notion that athletes receive preferential treatment. It would also show the exact standards student-athletes are held to.

The NCAA could also help with transparency by creating a blanket student-athlete drug policy for all universities. Currently, the NCAA doesn’t provide a drug policy for all universities to follow — each university comes up with its own policy and can self-report violations.

If a universal policy were implemented, universities could be allowed to make the drug policy stricter, but having one policy would eliminate inconsistencies and provide a public standard for all universities and all student-athletes to follow.  

Published on March 7, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact: opinion@dailyorange.com