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http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=18034190

But the Penn State child sexual abuse scandal highlights a culture of institutional protection.

"Part of why people protect the institution is because, really, they are protecting themselves because they are a part of the institution," said director Julie Hanks of Wasatch Family Therapy. "And if the institution is threatened, they are somehow threatened."

"My heart aches for Sue because I know she's devastated," said Patti Edwards. "I know that her strength and her love for her husband and her religion will help her over this hard time in her life, and I just wish her nothing but love."

I am a fan of LaVell Edwards and I think he ran a very clean program. That said, when I was at BYU in the 80's I was aware of how some of the football players were not adhering to the honor code, living off campus with girlfriends and partying. I do not know whether or not the coaches were aware of the same thing and looking away or just not monitoring them very closely.

In any case the situation was/is not comparable to Penn State. As evidenced by the suspension of the BYU basketball player from the NCAA playoffs a while back, the school is not allowing the sports program to dictate discipline.

The Mighty Builder wrote:http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=18034190

But the Penn State child sexual abuse scandal highlights a culture of institutional protection.

"Part of why people protect the institution is because, really, they are protecting themselves because they are a part of the institution," said director Julie Hanks of Wasatch Family Therapy. "And if the institution is threatened, they are somehow threatened."

"My heart aches for Sue because I know she's devastated," said Patti Edwards. "I know that her strength and her love for her husband and her religion will help her over this hard time in her life, and I just wish her nothing but love."

Is last year’s incident with Brandon Davies relevant? BYU had their best basketball team since the days of Danny Ainge, and had an excellent shot of making it to the final four. Their second-best player got busted for something most people don’t even consider wrong (having premarital sex), but he was kicked off of the team for the entire post season because of it.

No, BYU isn't that hung up with winning. They wouldn’t pull a Penn State.

The Mighty Builder wrote:http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=18034190

But the Penn State child sexual abuse scandal highlights a culture of institutional protection.

"Part of why people protect the institution is because, really, they are protecting themselves because they are a part of the institution," said director Julie Hanks of Wasatch Family Therapy. "And if the institution is threatened, they are somehow threatened."

"My heart aches for Sue because I know she's devastated," said Patti Edwards. "I know that her strength and her love for her husband and her religion will help her over this hard time in her life, and I just wish her nothing but love."

Gary Crowton wasn't protected, but he also wasn't winning. With what is demanded of students, faculty, and staff at BYU, and the prioritization of righteousness, I really don't see the administration turning a blind eye just to protect a winning tradition.

maklelan wrote:

The Mighty Builder wrote:http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=18034190

But the Penn State child sexual abuse scandal highlights a culture of institutional protection.

"Part of why people protect the institution is because, really, they are protecting themselves because they are a part of the institution," said director Julie Hanks of Wasatch Family Therapy. "And if the institution is threatened, they are somehow threatened."

"My heart aches for Sue because I know she's devastated," said Patti Edwards. "I know that her strength and her love for her husband and her religion will help her over this hard time in her life, and I just wish her nothing but love."

Gary Crowton wasn't protected, but he also wasn't winning. With what is demanded of students, faculty, and staff at BYU, and the prioritization of righteousness, I really don't see the administration turning a blind eye just to protect a winning tradition.

This is an area in which I think there has been ethical improvement at BYU since my days there in the late 70s. Then, there were some shenanigans with only using honor code infractions that were old and cold to take away scholarships after it became clear that an athlete wasn't making the adjustment from high school to collegiate level play, or imposing discipline only after the season had ended. What I have witnessed in the decades since is that BYU is taking more ethical approaches to situations like these.

I am not saying that the athletes don't get different treatment, with officials intentionally turning and looking in the other direction--just that there is observable improvement at BYU in this department.

The church has covered up a lot of Boy Scout leader problems in the past. A coach or a scout leader it doesn't seem very different to me.

maklelan wrote:Gary Crowton wasn't protected, but he also wasn't winning. With what is demanded of students, faculty, and staff at BYU, and the prioritization of righteousness, I really don't see the administration turning a blind eye just to protect a winning tradition.

Brandon Davies wasn't suspended for have premarital sex, he was suspended for getting his girlfriend pregnant.
All those Crowton incidents involving football players suspended for drinking *coincidentally* were preceded by police involvement.

The ability to turn a blind eye at unrighteous conduct only goes so far. As I see it, the bigger concern is not drinking and sex, but embarrassing BYU by allowing your sins to become public.

Jaybear wrote:Brandon Davies wasn't suspended for have premarital sex, he was suspended for getting his girlfriend pregnant.

Exactly. Same deal with football star Harvey Unga. They have taken action in these cases when the "sin" has become impossible to deny (without claiming some sort of virgin birth scenario).

Jim McMahon was also kicked out... immediately after winning the final game in his senior year. Apparently it had just come to their attention that he was a partier.

Now, however, it would be extremely hard to cover up "honor code" violations because of camera phones, blogs, social media, discussion boards, etc.