EDITORIAL BOARD Editor in
Chief  Timothy Kudo
Managing Editor
 Michael Falcone
Viewpoint Editor
 Cuauhtemoc Ortega
Staff Representatives
 Amanda Fletcher
 Kelly Rayburn
 Marcelle Richards
Vytas Mazeika
Corey McEleney
Linh Tat
Editorial Board Assistants
 Maegan Carberry
 Edward Chiao
  Unsigned editorials represent a majority opinion of
the Daily Bruin Editorial Board. All other columns, letters and
artwork represent the opinions of their authors. Â Â All
submitted material must bear the author’s name, address, telephone
number, registration number, or affiliation with UCLA. Names will
not be withheld except in extreme cases. Â Â The Bruin
complies with the Communication Board’s policy prohibiting the
publication of articles that perpetuate derogatory cultural or
ethnic stereotypes. Â Â When multiple authors submit
material, some names may be kept on file rather than published with
the material. The Bruin reserves the right to edit submitted
material and to determine its placement in the paper. All
submissions become the property of The Bruin. The Communications
Board has a media grievance procedure for resolving complaints
against any of its publications. For a copy of the complete
procedure, contact the Publications office at 118 Kerckhoff Hall.
Daily Bruin 118 Kerckhoff Hall 308 Westwood Plaza Los Angeles, CA
90024 (310) 825-9898
Two weeks ago against Stanford, senior tailback DeShaun Foster
helped fumble away UCLA’s Rose Bowl dreams. Wednesday, he
fumbled away its dignity.
The Heisman Trophy candidate was declared ineligible to play by
the university for allegedly borrowing a sport-utility vehicle from
someone closely associated with the UCLA athletics program. In
doing so he’s successfully let down thousands of Bruin
students, faculty, alumni and fans by violating an NCAA regulation
prohibiting “extra benefits.”
Thank you, DeShaun.
Not only do Bruin fans have to witness the likely downfall of an
already floundering football season, but now they must live with
the shame and embarrassment of yet another scandal.
Bye-bye, Heisman.
Aside from the fans, it’s the people closer to Foster who
will be hurt the most. His selfishness has undermined the whole
idea of a team. Dozens of fellow players have contributed
uncountable hours of work to make the Bruin football team a
success, yet with one selfish incident he’s cheated them
all.
What were you thinking?
For a high-profile athlete in a top university athletic program
like Foster, anytime the words “borrow” and
“SUV” are uttered in the same sentence, bells should go
off in his head.
But for UCLA athletes, this isn’t the case. Despite all
the special treatment they get legally from the university and the
adoration they receive from their fans, some athletes insist on
bending the rules to get more, more and more.
It’s been less than three years since Cade & Co.
shamed us before the nation with their disabled parking placards,
and our athletes are already at it again. Sadly, Foster is only the
latest blue-chip Bruin to get tangled in NCAA violations. Kristee
Porter of the women’s volleyball team was recently
investigated for “extra benefits” violations and is
still watching her team suffer in her absence.
Enough is enough.
The UCLA athletic department needs to take aggressive steps so
that this doesn’t happen again. While lust for the
nation’s top recruits may be strong, athletic director Peter
Dalis and his staff must realize that there are real world
consequences to letting this behavior go unchecked. Each time a
Bruin athlete is caught violating a rule or regulation, Dalis and
his staff fail in their mission to make UCLA the top athletic
program in the nation. No amount of NCAA championships or Sears Cup
victories will erase the negative stigma compiled by these
scandals.
But who can blame these athletes when Dalis makes light of NCAA
rules with comments like: “The NCAA rules are somewhat
artificial in our society. If it happened in any other context, no
one would be questioning it.” If he’s not taking these
rules seriously, nobody else will.
Not only must UCLA athletics effectively educate Bruin athletes
in NCAA rules, they must also discourage the corruption of our
athletes by those with the power, money and SUVs to do so.
Technically, this violation shouldn’t affect Foster in the
draft, but all it takes is one look at the way Peter
Warrick’s discount scandal during his senior year in
Tallahassee tarnished not only his reputation, but that of Florida
State. And even if Foster becomes a millionaire like Warrick,
he’s lost the respect of the nation and the UCLA
community.
This should be a lesson to all current and prospective Bruin
athletes. Those who fly highest, fall hardest.