Brandon Davies suspended by BYU after admitting sex with girlfriend

A few weeks ago a highly ranked basketball team from Brigham Young University suspended one of their starting players for breaking the university’s honor code.

BYU is a religious school that requires every student to sign and live by a very strict code of honor.  The honor code requires athletes — and all students, for that matter — to live a chaste and virtuous life, be honest, abstain from alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee and substance abuse, and attend church regularly.

Starter Brandon Davies was suspended from school and the team for breaking one of the university’s rules.

The BYU honor code would be ridiculed by most college students across the country. For this reason, BYU normally cannot recruit the top national athletes.  BYU sports must rely largely on Mormon athletes who agree to abide by its strict rules and sign a legal contract outlining both the code and its consequences. All of this makes BYU’s success on the basketball court with a team led by Brandon Davies this year that much more fascinating.

Davies grew up in Provo, Utah and signed the honor code before attending the university. He knew the rules and broke them. He knew the consequences and chose to ignore them. He has let himself as well as his team down. BYU could have simply looked the other way and dealt with Davies after the tournaments, but they chose integrity over sports. How many other universities would have suspended a star player because of infractions at this stage of the season?  Judging from the hoopla, none.

I don’t have a problem with BYU suspending Davies or any athletes who break their codes.  The athletes had to sign on to follow the rules.  However, the last three high-profile athlete suspensions for honor code violations have been minorities.

This makes me believe prominent white athletes are either not suspended for breaking codes, or perfect people that never make any mistakes, or the media doesn’t make it a big story.

The Brandon Davies story reached Coverage Three Level (check the YAAAMS News Coverage Levels). The cynical people in our community want to say he got suspended because it was a black athlete sleeping with a white girl.  I’m not going to go there on this story.  I believe BYU probably is fair when it comes to who breaks the rules and who gets punished. My issue and the question I want to raise in terms of race is this:   Would the story have become a Level Three story if the athlete was white?   Only stories of minorities breaking the honor code have reached a Level Two or higher.  I’m looking into it right now.  I want to ask about another issue that is being ignored:  How did the information about why this young kid was suspended become public?  Honor Code suspensions are an “in-house” matter.  Although the suspension is public, the details of the violation should be held in confidence, especially when the breach involves sex.  Davies’ parents shouldn’t even know his enrollment status unless he decides to tell them.  How is it that all of America has a need to know, and be repeatedly reminded, of the confidential personal and educational status of this particular kid?  I wonder if BYU violated Mr. Davies rights by allowing this information to go public.

Nerdy Jones

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