A Valuable Lesson

Chapman University is not exactly a football power. It plays in a division two ranks below the likes of Notre Dame, Nebraska and Miami. But Chapman is a school that knows how to accept blame and show responsibility, refreshing actions these days.

Last month Chapman President James L. Doti forfeited the football team’s five victories this year. The reason was the Panthers had two key players in their fifth season of college football. That made them ineligible.

The National Collegiate Athletic Assn. might have wound up forfeiting the wins anyway, so Doti’s action can be viewed as preemptive. Nonetheless, it was the right thing to do and sent a message from the top that the school plays by the rules.

Chapman restored football only two years ago, after an absence of 62 years. The sport became an instant hit, and the president rightly noted that football gave students “something to rally around. It provides wonderful lessons in sportsmanship, responsibility and leadership.”

All that is true, and those are reasons sports have a place on campus--a very large place on some campuses. And as athletes on winning teams become celebrities, more attention is paid to their misdeeds than to those of ordinary students. Doti also recognized that.

Chapman is not the only school with a football team that has suffered off-the-field problems this year. Boston College has suspended 13 players for gambling. Two allegedly bet on their own team, a violation of NCAA rules.

At the University of Rhode Island, President Robert Carothers had the football team forfeit a scheduled game at the University of Connecticut last month. He did so after at least six football players charged into a fraternity house and allegedly beat up three people inside. Two dozen other players allegedly surrounded the house to ensure no one could leave. Carothers rightly said athletes, like other students, must adhere to acceptable standards of behavior.

In recent years, both Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Long Beach have eliminated football. Chapman is one of a relatively small number of schools that have tried to maintain a competitive football program without offering athletic scholarships. The school requires all freshmen to post a minimum score of 900 on the SAT entrance exam and demands a minimum grade-point average of 2.25 from most transfer students from other colleges. Some Chapman students thought the forfeitures were too severe a penalty and that the two ineligible players made innocent mistakes. But regulations must be heeded and, when broken, responsibility must be shouldered. Doti’s action tells students that is more important than a football team’s winning record.