For the third time since September 2006, UW-Madison men's basketball player Kevin Gullikson was cited in Madison for underage drinking. For the third time, the UW-Madison athletic department has failed to properly discipline Gullikson, whose actions have embarrassed the basketball program and the school.
According to Brian Lucas, UW-Madison's assistant director of athletic communications, the student-athlete discipline policy does not address incidents like Gullikson's.
Consequently, the public perception of the athletic department is one of lax punishments, or in the case of alcohol-related citations, no punishment whatsoever.
Furthermore, not only will the athletic department not publicly punish Gullikson, but also will not publicly address Gullikson's struggles with alcohol - his blood alcohol content was .20 at the time he was issued his latest underage drinking citation. As a result of previous citations, Gullikson agreed to attend an alcohol treatment program as well as perform community service.
Public action on the part of the athletic department is vital to preserve - or establish - an element of discipline within the department. But public action is also necessary to assure students of UW-Madison and donors to the athletic department the thousands of dollars spent to provide student-athletes like Gullikson with academic and athletic support are not going to waste.
Lucas said Gullikson's situation is being handled internally in the men's basketball program. Although some punishment is better than none, there is no way for the public to see how he will be punished, especially since he is a reserve on the team and his disappearance from the court would go unnoticed by the casual observer.
The athletic department needs to address alcohol-related citations in the student-athlete discipline policy so incidents of illegal alcohol consumption, especially repeated incidents, will not go unpunished.
In the mean time, the athletic department should take the initiative to let the public know Gullikson's actions won't go unpunished.
