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Editorial: Treat athletes same as other students

Yesterday's Arizona Daily Wildcat Police Beat column featured two students who were arrested on suspicion of shoplifting from the U of A Bookstore.

One student stole batteries, the other took a wallet.

Both made stupid mistakes and police cited them for it.

But it appears that at the University of Arizona - and Pima County for that matter -Řathletes are held to a different standard.

The Pima County Attorney's Office confirmed Wednesday that three athletes who admitted to stealing money from a UA CatCard office worker will be sent to the Dean of Students Diversion Program. The Aug. 19 incident, which resulted in UAPD naming about 14 football players as "investigative leads," ended with the police identifying three athletes as actual suspects in the case.

What generally happens to suspects? They could be re-interviewed and sometimes arrested on site.

In this case, university police finished their investigation and passed the buck to a higher power, saying the case was "high-profile" and should be handled by the Pima County Attorney's Office.

And the county attorney decided against charging the players with theft, opting to send the three athletes to the dean's program.

Granted, freshman Bobby Wade, sophomore Zaharius Johnson and junior Anthony Banks are not hardened criminals. Furthermore, it's absolutely time to let this issue die because, in reality, we're talking about a couple of young punks clowning around and pilfering all of $20.

But one problem remains: why do three athletes get to walk away from a theft when two ordinary students do not? Why weren't the athletes cited like the alleged bookstore thieves?

Because, as we have seen time and again, athletes are treated differently.

It happens everywhere. Too often, celebrities do the crime but don't do the time. Their crimes are dismissed, laughed off as easily forgivable pranks.

And that's fine, as long as other people are afforded the same luxuries.

The 18 year old who stole the wallet and the 19 year old who stole the batteries were not afforded those luxuries.

Police were called to the bookstore and in front of hundreds of passerbys, those students were "cited and released" by UAPD. The two might even see the Diversion Program sometime down the road.

It would be foolish to try to change the world and call for equal treatment for all UA students. In fact, any thinking person would realize that football players will always have the run of the campus.

However, the least head football coach Dick Tomey could do is bench the three players in tomorrow's game against Texas Christian University.

We have asked Tomey to punish the athletes before in this space. At this point, however, it is crucial that he take action.

These athletes have been dismissed to the dean's program, but that should not excuse them from repercussions on the team.

If Tomey truly wants to "ream these guys out," he should make up for the county attorney's error.

Don't let Wade, Johnson and Banks play tomorrow. Show the campus that all students are treated as equals.