** missed drop char **Get Those Agents Off My Campus" - so states the title of one chapter in the biography of former Michigan head football coach Bo Schembechler. The football coaching staff was probably thinking the same thing on Saturday, as they went into a game without senior co-captain Marcus Ray. Ray, suspended upon allegations that he had improper contact with a professional sports agent, may miss the rest of the season pending an investigation of the charges.
Problems stemming from relationships between athletes and agents are nothing new in college sports. What is new are the positive steps that the Michigan state Legislature is taking to prevent such relationships from occurring in the future.
This past Thursday, the state House of Representatives passed two bills which, in addition to a third bill passed last May, would help curb illegal contact between agents and student athletes. The new bills, sponsored by Rep. Kirk Profit (D-Ypsilanti), hold agents partially responsible for improper contact with student athletes. In addition, the bills would allow universities to declare agents trespassers on campus as well as pursue litigation against them. The bills are expected to pass in the state Senate and receive the endorsement of Gov. John Engler. Breaking any of the rules in the bills could result in a $50,000 fine and up to one year in jail.
These bills are both beneficial - and are overdue. Agents need to be punished as well as athletes for inappropriate relationships. While agents conduct their business within the NCAA, NCAA rules and regulations do not apply to them. Without legal deterrents, agents can initiate contact that they know will put the student athlete in violation of NCAA rules without rebuke.
Though agents are not necessarily the instigators of this contact, they are certainly part of the relationship. If an 18-year-old student athlete can be expected to abide by the rules, certainly a professional sports agent should have to abide by them as well.
Furthermore, despite the lengthy lectures student athletes endure in an attempt to educate them on the dangers of associating with agents, nothing can prepare them for a profit-seeking professional agent. Under the current rules, agents can perpetually harass athletes without fear of legal repercussions. These new bills would help end such harassment.
Some may have the idea that contact with sports agents does not harm student athletes. Penn State's Curtis Enis, who lost his eligibility for this season when he accepted a suit from an agent last December, now starts for the Chicago Bears. While he may be better off, many student athletes do not have the superstar status that equates to a top-five draft pick. For example, Marcus Ray - who many considered to have pro potential - could have improved his standing in the draft had he performed well on the field this season. But with an inactive season, he may be passed over in next year's draft.
These bills, however, are not meant to shift the blame from the students to the agents. Ultimately, the student athlete is responsible for any illegal contact with an agent. No matter how many times an agent calls or how many gifts he may offer, no one can force the student to submit to or participate in any conversation.
What these new bills help to do is distribute the blame more equitably. By casting the fear of legal consequences on both parties involved, these new bills may help mitigate the frequency of illegal contact between student athletes and agents in the future.
Although each year the medical community obtains more useful information on the HIV virus, the approach some legislators have adopted regarding the AIDS epidemic is increasingly counterproductive. Twenty-nine states already consider it a crime to knowingly transmit the HIV virus to a partner, and now certain state legislatures are imposing harsh regulations on carriers of the lethal virus. The public's knowledge about HIV and AIDS has declined in past years, and instead of educating the public, officials are implementing outdated strategies that will intensify the social stigmas attached to HIV.
The New York state Legislature passed a law this June mandating that doctors report a list of HIV-positive people so officials can inform partners of possible exposure. While the purpose of this law - to protect the partners of HIV carriers - seems fairly benign, this new statute violates the rights of HIV-positive citizens. The law targets a group of people who already face discrimination in many other social arenas by making important private information available to others. This law stirs up memories of past when the government exposed socially stigmatized groups during the communist witchhunts of the McCarthy era. It is also reminiscent of past attempts by the government to stockpile personal information, such as the compilation of DNA evidence by the state of Michigan following the Ann Arbor serial rapist case - a situation that had to be remedied by a lawsuit.
The knowledge that average citizens have about HIV and AIDS has declined during the 1990s, a clear sign that the government and schools are not doing enough to educate the public. In a poll reported on Friday by The New York Times, 55 percent of Americans thought that they could become infected by sharing a drinking glass with an infected person in 1997, compared with 48 percent in 1991. If more people were informed in 1991 than in 1997, something terribly wrong has occurred. Education has been and will always be the key to combating the HIV virus. The best weapons against AIDS include safe sex education, free distribution of condoms in schools and needles for intra-venous drug users.
Although testing for the HIV virus has become more accessible in the past few years, the new statute in New York may instill fear in people who want to have testing done. Because doctors are required to report all names of HIV-positive patients, those who would consider taking a test might decide that it's not worth being stigmatized to have the testing in the first place.
In the same way that the death penalty does not deter crime when there is little chance of being caught, these punitive laws in 29 states will not deter transmission of the HIV virus. First, there is no type of sex police attempting to track down criminals who pass on the virus, making it hard to pinpoint illegal actions. Second, people who knowingly transmit the virus with a malicious intent are not worried about facing prison when they themselves have a disease that can be fatal.
Punishing those who maliciously infect others with the HIV virus might not be so far fetched in certain cases. But focusing the government's time, energy and resources on reprimanding people who already have HIV and AIDS is not the cure for the epidemic. Only through a massive educational campaign will the tide turn on a disease that has affected millions of lives around the world.
09-29-98
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