I've been struck at how harsh people seem to be these days.
When I was in college, I stopped attending my calculus class my freshman year. My father had a stroke before Thanksgiving and I wound up going home for the holiday early because of that. In the meantime, the instructor moved an exam up that was supposed to happen after the holiday. I missed the exam since I was away, was given a zero, and mathematically that meant I could not pass the class. So I just stopped going, was given an incomplete and eventually an F for the class. I didn't seem like it would ever matter, I was an English major. Then I decided I wanted to go to vet school, and that F meant I would never get in, calculus was a required course for the application process. The rules were clear at my university, once that incomplete turned to an F (at the end of the following semester), that was irrevocable. But I met with the dean, he listened to my story, looked at my otherwise good record, and decided to make me a deal. I could retake calculus and he'd replace my F with whatever grade I got the second time through. Little tiny decision that changed the course of my life. Grateful to the guy to this day.
Fast forward a generation and my nephew is attending a different university in the same state system. He is assigned a roommate who is a big pothead. My nephew had a previous misdemeanor possession conviction previously and drugs in his dorm room had way bigger potential consequences for him. Argued a lot with his roommate about being so blatant with the pot smoking and then one day their room is raided by law enforcement. After the dust settled, nephew got into another argument with the roommate, threw a punch but didn't actually connect with the guy. Banned from the entire state university system because of a zero tolerance policy for violence. Never did graduate from college, he couldn't afford private college. Went on to trade school and eventually found his place in the world. But it always struck me how disproportionate the penalty was.
Obviously this is different from the UCLA players in that neither myself nor my nephew committed a crime (unless it is a crime to throw a punch at someone without actually hitting them?). But the tone is the same. It seems so popular here in this thread and in our society in general to demand big consequences for relatively minor offenses. Yes the players stole sunglasses and it is a crime to do so. Yes there should be a penalty. Should that penalty be 15 years in a Chinese prison or ruining the rest of their lives by banning them from sport? Seems way harsh to me. Give people a chance to redeem their mistakes and sometimes they actually do...
