Tagging Georgia Out

A U.S. District Court jury has imposed a stiff penalty on the University of Georgia for letting its athletic program run rings around freedom of speech. Jan Kemp, a former English instructor at the university, was awarded $2.57 million in back pay and damages because a federal jury agreed with her contention that she was fired for speaking out against setting lower academic standards for student athletes than for others. Her victory should be instructive for other universities.

Kemp claimed that Georgia not only lowered its admission standards for student athletes but also gave those students extra time to complete remedial programs and promoted some athletes even though they weren’t meeting grade requirements. Kemp had served as English coordinator in a student developmental program and said her demotion from that job and her later dismissal from the faculty were the direct result of her protests.

It has become customary at some universities to wink at the academic advantages given to athletes because they bring money and prestige to their schools through their prowess on the football field or basketball court. That tendency corrupts the basic principle of a university, which is to educate young people for citizenship in the world. In the long run, such favoritism hurts the schools that engage in it and hurts the athletes more. Too often they leave campus without the education their diploma claims they received. With her victory, Jan Kemp has contributed mightily to the education of the University of Georgia. The transcript of her trial should be required reading at every other campus in the nation.