PAST, PRESENT BRUINS QUESTION STIFF PENALTY.Byline: Heesun Wee and Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writers UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX football player Jermaine Lewis Jermaine Lewis (born October 16, 1974 in Lanham, Maryland) is an American football wide receiver in the NFL. A star high school athlete at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, he was a two-time team MVP as a running back while also starring as a sprinter on the track team, setting still is proud to wear his Bruins jersey, even though the NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association placed all the school's sports teams on probation for scholarship violations. ``That's a harsh penalty. Whoever had any kind of knowledge should be punished, not the players,'' said Lewis, a 19-year-old theater arts major at the University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. . Throughout Wednesday, the sanctions were the talk of UCLA, a sports powerhouse that has won more national titles than any other college in the nation and just last week was named America's top ``jock school'' by Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated is the largest weekly American sports magazine owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. It has over 3 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men, 19% of the adult males in the country. magazine. ``I think any time sanctions are imposed, the reputation of the university is diminished a little,'' said UCLA sports booster Allan Cooper, who holds undergraduate and law degrees from the school. ``These seem to be very stiff sanctions.'' What puzzled students, athletes, alumni and Bruins boosters alike is why the National Collegiate Athletic Association National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Organization that administers U.S. intercollegiate athletics. It was formed in 1906 but did not acquire significant powers to enforce its rules until 1942. Headquartered at Indianapolis, Ind. has chosen to penalize pe·nal·ize tr.v. pe·nal·ized, pe·nal·iz·ing, pe·nal·iz·es 1. To subject to a penalty, especially for infringement of a law or official regulation. See Synonyms at punish. 2. the entire sports program for scholarship violations that occurred on the women's softball team. Such sweeping NCAA sanctions are fairly routine, and the college athletics College athletics refers primarily to sports and games organized and sanctioned by institutions of tertiary education (colleges or universities in American English). In the United States, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the National Association of Intercollegiate watchdog announced Tuesday that it was taking the harsh action because UCLA improperly charged softball scholarships to its women's soccer program, caused by a lack of ``institutional control and ethical conduct.'' As a result, UCLA was stripped of its 1995 women's softball championship and the entire athletic program was placed on three years' probation. UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young Dr. Charles E. "Chuck" Young is currently Chancellor Emeritus and Professor at the UCLA School of Public Affairs. Under his skillful leadership and guidance, UCLA went from a regional college with an operating budget of $170 million to became a world class institution with expenses sought to defend the university Wednesday, saying it took all necessary steps to comply with NCAA regulations once it learned of the violations. ``The willingness to confront the problem and develop an environment in which it will not occur again illustrates our continued commitment to rules compliance,'' Young said in a written statement. For some on the sprawling campus, however, such words do little to repair the damage to UCLA's hard-earned reputation for sports excellence. ``No one is going to come here and want to play softball,'' said Lynnsy Phillips, a sophomore majoring in sociology. Yet, Phillips and others predicted that high school athletes will continue to flock to the prestigious, public university to play on other teams. ``I don't think it is going to be the downfall of UCLA athletics,'' Phillips said. Seemingly at odds with the pervasive feeling of frustration was a blue and yellow banner that hung in front of the J.D. Morgan Intercollegiate Athletics Center. It read: ``Congratulations Women's Gymnastics NCAA National Champions.'' But the NCAA's ruling was on most people's lips, not gymnastics. The scandal was the top story Wednesday in the student newspaper, the Daily Bruin The Daily Bruin (also known as The Bruin) is the student newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA. When classes are in session, it publishes Monday through Friday during the school year and once a week on Mondays in the summer quarter. , with coverage of student-government elections relegated to the bottom of the front page. UCLA alumnus ALUMNUS, civil law. A child which one has nursed; a foster child. Dig. 40, 2, 14. Sam Kraemer tried to take the long view. He said he believes the negative publicity probably won't cast a shadow beyond the sports program to UCLA's top-flight academic program. ``How the UCLA athletic department looks is not the most important thing in the world,'' Kraemer said. Still, as an avid Bruins basketball fan, Kraemer said he feels the NCAA took perhaps too hard a line against his alma mater in general and should've focused on only those people who did wrong. ``If they did the things alleged, they deserve to get punished for it,'' said Kraemer, a Sherman Oaks attorney. The NCAA has determined that UCLA deserved the stringent sanctions - among them the loss of the softball championship - because the school had gained a significant competitive advantage by awarding too many scholarships. In particular, UCLA brought in star pitcher Tanya Harding Tanya Harding (born January 23, 1972 in Brisbane) is an Australian softball player, who has competed for Australia at the three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1996. of Australia 21 games into the season. Harding, an internationally prominent pitcher, joined the team at the start of the spring academic quarter and posted a 17-1 record, won all four of UCLA's games in the College World Series and was named the tournament's most valuable player. She returned to Australia two days after the conclusion of the tournament, skipping final exams and angering many college coaches. ``How they got the title was wrong. But don't punish students who didn't have anything to do with it,'' said Marcus Chumack, a senior majoring in civil engineering. Students and athletes also criticized the NCAA's verdict to reprimand REPRIMAND, punishment. The censure which in some cases a public office pronounces against an offender. 2. This species of punishment is used by legislative bodies to punish their members or others who have been guilty of some impropriety of conduct towards them. current athletes who played no role in the violations years ago. ``It's unfair to the new teams,'' agreed Malik Adunni, a senior theater major. Near the famed Bruin Bear statue, Bjorn Merten, a senior economics major and former campus football player, sat on a ledge and simply shrugged his big shoulders. The NCAA can take the softball championship, he said. ``But the fact remains: They won the series,'' said Merten, clad in a pair of yellow-and-blue UCLA football shorts. ``They still are the best team of '95.'' |
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