However, a few influences on this issue that I would consider would include:

A lot of negative publicity was given to schools like Miami FL, Oklahoma, and others in the late 1980s and early 1990s regarding the behaviors of their athletes (especially their football players). I am not saying that Iowa ever really approached the criminal status of “The U” and its ’Canes. But, I also think that many people in the media (and perhaps also in law enforcement) decided that the “blind eye and let the coach handle it” method might only enable these young, aggressive men to wreak havoc on their communities. They wanted to avoid a situation like the one at Miami FL.

Another thing is there is more accountability in law enforcement now. I have never really been one to question the police or the sheriff’s office. However, with every squad car now having a camera, and every media outlet willing to ask questions (or file the proper paperwork to get their questions answered), you now have lessened ability for things to happen “quietly.” Can you imagine the uproar that would happen now if the Press-Citizen found out that Anthony Tucker was found passed out, but was driven to Lickliter’s house to sleep it off? Lick might have been fired within 1 year instead of 4. (LOL)

Also, you probably have more student/community organizations and movements (some religious, many not) that are now willing to confront these types of issues.

On this next point, I’m not sure if the statistics would show it or not, but I would have to think that alcohol and drug use (and abuse) has probably trended upward for college students since roughly 1960 or 1965. (There may be occasional steps downward, and we may now be trending back down a bit). I may be wrong, and I don’t want to take the time to research this point, so anyone that wants to can feel free to provide opposing information.

I can’t be sure that major universities have become more liberal (although I’m sure there are many people who would say yes). Yet, it seems as though the decision-makers in them probably have become more liberal (probably partly a function of less employment discrimination at those levels). Therefore, you probably have less people in power that will kow-tow to football coaches and the boosters who back those coaches, especially if it comes to serious issues like assaults and other violent crimes.

Finally, we now live in a world where anybody with a cell phone or a computer can capture and publish news. If I see a somewhat notable athlete like Anthony Tucker passed out in an alley, and if I am more concerned with my own importance than I am with his well-being, I can snap a photo of him sitting against the brick wall. I can call the cops right then and there, and then I can go home and blog about it. Or, if I am a cab driver, I can lock the doors and call the cops right away.

On the one hand, the conservative in me wants to say that it was better for my favorite football team in terms of publicity and player eligibility back in the “good old days.” However, there is also a part of me that is a brother of sisters and a part of me that likes to consider myself a decent human being. That part of me is glad that athletes will be held to a level of accountability (at least) that the average student is held to. That part of me is glad that universities and colleges appear to be taking steps to avoid drunkenness and rapes, or at the very least allow the legal system to provide appropriate negative sanctions.

/end rant.

You have to remember that prior to about 95 or 2000, an athlete getting popped for a PAULA or DUI was a local story that blew over pretty quickly. If it was a big name player, or the coach’s son, it would get picked up nationally, but even then it wouldn’t stick around.

Now, any time a 3rd stringer from a BCS school gets busted pissing in the alley behind a bar, every sports site and blog can pick it up and everybody knows. Not only that but with Google you can track those old stories down forever. Before it was like “hey, didn’t he get busted once”, but nobody could really remember.

Then you get the bloggers looking for content who just won’t let some of this crap go. It’s easier to notice it all add up.

I don’t think this is a bigger problem for Iowa than it is for most others schools, but since we are focused on the Hawkeyes it seems worse to us.

who asaulted his girlfriend the summer before football season and wasn’t allowed to leave the state? If I remember correctly, he was allowed to play home games but couldn’t play away games. I like to think that if this happened with the Hawks he would’ve been immediately dismissed from the team. None of Iowa’s issues have been violent crimes (cab abuse not withstanding), so I think that has to be taken into account when viewing law trouble with a program as well.

Something else I thought of…. Iowa City/Coralville is a fairly compact area without a lot of crime. A classic college town. Compare that to Universities in big cities where the cops are too busy to either mess with or notice the minor alcohol related offenses, at least on the weekends. Also, the players are far more anonymous. Who wants to bet that USC and UCLA guys have gotten public intox violations that just never got noticed by the press.

I thought maybe Marc Morehouse had wronged you in some way, shape, or form.

blame Ronnie Reagan. On July 17, 1984, Reagan signed into law the Uniform Drinking Age Act mandating all states to adopt 21 as the legal drinking age within five years. It was based on a few highly questionable studies. Brief history here.

There are several really good books about the politics of these studies and this Act, and in short, this is a classic American hyper conservative cop out. The net effect is the infantilization of America’s youth. Just spend time in Europe and you will realize there is a better way. But…yeah, I think Iowa City cops are on the prowl.

…..real good edumacation:

1. It’s a small town. ANY offense is going to hit the paper.

2. It’s a town and university that likes to make “statements,” like these:

a. No one is above the law.
b. Students drink too much alkeehol.
c. If we had our way, we would do away with freshmen eligibility and scholarships for athletes.
d. We need to meet our budget and every extra $90 helps.
e. We do not avoid the company of women, but we do deny them our essence.

I’m not so sure about “e” but the others ring true to me. The biggest factor is simply logistics: do you think a Temple FB player fined for public intox makes the front of the Philadelphia Enquirer? Not likely. That’s half the story right there.

All of you have made good (and interesting) points, but what it comes down to is shooting fish in a barrel. The simple answer is that, despite the perpetual grumblings from the city leaders, there are a metric fuckton of bars concentrated in one area. Lots of drunk people are in one area, and they’ve parked far away or walked even farther.
As has been noted, there isn’t a whole lot of tolerance for letting drunken teenagers fornicate in run around townie neighborhoods, and drunk youth don’t have a lot of advocates. Also, as was said, the university needs boosters’ and students’ parents’ $$$ support, so they advertise to the least common denominator and just try to keep anything offensive or embarrassing from ever happening… ever. So the University and Community like the ability to say, “Look Ms. Jones, it’s safe for you to send your daughter to live here for four to six years.”
But mostly it’s the money. How else would the ICPD be able to afford SWAT type equipment for their common beat-cop? In a few years they’ll be driving mini-tanks, all thanks to Courier Resident Jonny Sauce.
The student athletes who got away with everything in high school getting busted just like everyone else is just an extension of the overall love/hate relationship that IC has had with its bars for years.

I have often wondered about the arrests, DUI’s, public intoxication, etc. that seem to have followed the two major programs at Iowa for over a decade now.

There are problems with arrests in the wrestling program?

I know, that was kind of a cheap shot.

I’m sure Hayden Fry’s way made sense back then. With technolgy today somebody somewhere has video or a picture of it anyway if it happended in downtown IC. If a coach were to do it the good ol boy way, there is a good chance he would get busted somewhere down the line. KF and staff are too smart to try to do anything other than the way the school and authorities say it should be and I commend them for it.

The initial question posed is whether the Iowa City and U of I police are busting kids for misbehavior that would be excused elsewhere. I don’t think that question is very useful. I think the better question would be this – why do some students abuse alcohol (regularly) and commit crimes, however petty? A good follow up question would be this – isn’t self-discipline a trait that we should demand from all university athletes? Finally, a comment – alcohol is a drug. A legal and socially-condoned drug, of course, but still a drug that is addictive, impairs judgment, and is sometimes deadly. Can anyone deny that the culture of HEAVY alcohol consumption in Iowa City and many other college towns is something that should be changed, if possible? Do we want college students to develop a habit of binge drinking that they may find difficult to stop after graduation?