Academic

BYU has been much in the news lately, first for beating San Diego State in basketball last Saturday, and then for suspending starting forward Brandon Davies the following Tuesday. At the time of this writing, the BYU basketball team is on the front page of ESPN, Fox Sports, Yahoo! Sports ... and the Wall Street Journal! After being poised to get a #1 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament, the Cougars looked very bad in losing last night to New Mexico, and their tournament hopes will depend on whether they can get their act together over the next two weeks.

I was at that game last night, and I follow BYU sports closely. Passionately, even. I was anticipating a deep tournament run by the Cougars, and I was excited about that. But this story is not about basketball for me. It's about Brandon Davies.

Many people at BYU stumble over the Honor Code. (If that surprises you, I suspect you have a very loose grip on reality.) In most instances, the transgressions are minor, and the sanctions are informal, like the social sanctions we might impose for bad manners. When the transgressions are more serious, a university administrator or church authority may become involved, usually in a counseling role. In rare instances, the transgression is serious enough to warrant a more dramatic intervention.

Despite the rumors, we do not know what Brandon Davies did to merit suspension from the basketall team, but my first thought on hearing the news was for Brandon. Even though I don't know him, I care about him, and I was grateful for the comments of his teammate, Charles Abouo: "Everyone makes mistakes in their life. We are reaching out and trying to help him get through this." And Jimmer Fredette: "He is like a brother to us.... He told us everything. He told us he was sorry and that he let us down. We just held our heads high and told him it was OK, that it is life, and you make mistakes, and you just got to play through it." At the game last night, when a clip of Brandon flashed on the screen during the pregame introductions, the student section cheered a little louder. The students are supporting him.

Blog friend Ashby Jones asks, Has BYU Done Right by Brandon Davies? While I was not involved in any aspect of Brandon's suspension, I can guarantee you that those who made the decision were thinking, among other things, about the effect of this decision on Brandon. You may not like the standards in the Honor Code, but do you really think Brandon would be a better person if he had been given a pass? That hasn't been my life experience. I am grateful to work at an institution where values are more important than success at sports, and I suspect that Brandon feels that way, too.