Sports and sexual assault

Sadly, Sports Illustrated has become politicized. The first three articles in its issue dated Dec. 19 celebrate athletes using their popularity for political purposes—for example, LeBron James campaigning for Hillary Clinton—and protest in the Colin Kaepernick kneel-down era.

But what will SI do with the University of Minnesota football team, which has pledged to boycott football activities, including its upcoming bowl game, to protest the suspension of 10 players in connection with a sexual-assault investigation? Several of the men have acknowledged sexual activity with the aggrieved woman but are insisting that the sex was consensual, which makes it A-OK in today’s weird campus culture.

University administrators are in a pickle. They have midwifed an environment in which sex among undergraduates is not only tolerated but also encouraged by coed living arrangements and condom machines in dormitories.

The SI issue was in my mailbox yesterday alongside a review copy of a book scheduled for publication next month, The Campus Rape Frenzy, published by Encounter. The subtitle pinpoints a nationwide problem: The Attack on Due Process at America’s Universities. Authors K.C. Johnson and Stuart Taylor Jr. contend that “ideologically skewed campus sexual assault policies and lawless commands issued by federal bureaucrats” have produced situations where students are considered guilty until proven innocent.

University administrators are in a pickle. They have midwifed an environment in which sex among undergraduates is not only tolerated but also encouraged by coed living arrangements and condom machines in dormitories. Rape is a grievous offense, and prosecution of rapists is essential, but what’s consent and what’s not is under dispute in this Minnesota situation and has been in others, especially when alcohol was involved. Football players produce glory and revenue for their schools and often receive special privileges. Cracking down on them—now that the Minnesota situation cannot be swept under the rug—might upset important alumni.

And SI editors may be in a pickle. SI, of course, lives on sports, including football bowl games. It now likes athletes who use their platforms for protest. But what happens when players are politically incorrect enough to stand up against a lack of due process for their teammates accused of a horrendous deed? Which protests will SI favor and which will it despise?