Kevin P. Chavous: College Readiness Is More Than Academics
Tennessee coach Derek Dooley kicked Myles off the team this week and indefinitely suspended sophomore Greg King. Campus police said that Myles attempted to hide under a car and in some bushes as officers pursued him. He then allegedly elbowed the officer in the face.
This is the second offseason arrest for Myles, who is 19 years old. He'd been previously charged with public intoxication, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest on April 18 at another night spot in Knoxville.
"It is a privilege, not a right, to be a member of the University of Tennessee football team,'' Dooley said in a statement.
"The most important responsibility of that privilege is to properly represent this institution and our supporters on and off the field,'' he went on to say. "I am disappointed and in many ways embarrassed by the poor judgment displayed on many fronts by several members of our football team last night.''
Other players were questioned on matters related to the incident, but none were detained.
After teaching at the college level for the past 17 years, I've seen these sorts of incidents occur over and over again. It's the same old stuff, just new faces attached. For some reason, we've come to accept a culture of drunken, gluttonous and irresponsible behavior as simply a part of being in college. The truth is that some college students spend more time drinking and partying than they spend studying and developing. The next thing you know, there are arrests, alcohol poisonings, rapes and other things that end up destroying the lives of students.
If you've got kids going to college at any point in the future, or if you're like Mary J. Blige and going to college yourself (which I think is awesome), I'll share with you the exact words I shared with my 18 year old daughter this morning:
It's okay to have fun in college, and you should. But the key is moderation, and being a leader, not a follower. Most college students who ruin their lives do so because they don't do things with balance: They drink till they puke, have sex with everything that moves and don't spend any time studying in the process. The next thing you know, they're 40 years old with two-thirds of a college degree and a lifetime of regrets.
Campus culture has got to change, and universities must take a stronger role in helping students realize the importance of making responsible choices. While the young players at the University of Tennessee are certainly responsible for their decisions, they probably went out and behaved like idiots because none of their coaches, teachers, parents or role models put their foot down to explain that college shouldn't be about the dumb stuff. As sad as this story happens to be, it's going to happen again this year.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the Athlete Liberation and Academic Reform Movement (ALARM). To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here. 
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By: bensagaa on 7/10/2010 9:59PM
== M i x e d M a t c h i n g . C o m == The wonderful place where you can mingle with hot singles who are looking to date outside their race. Find your partner here whether they reside within your own neighborhood or abroad.
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By: BillSchrier on 7/10/2010 11:12PM
Blacks in a bar room fight, then almost killing a police officer.
Big surprise.
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By: wha-up on 7/11/2010 11:57AM
yeah, haven't we seen enough of these stories, i mean we can't keep blaming the white man for our mistakes. when are the blackes gonna realize that we have opportunities to succeed now, and gotta quit with the 300 yrs crap, no other race keeps bringing up the past, the other races get over it and move on
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By: LAZARO JAVIER GARCIA on 7/14/2010 10:30PM
Dr. Boyce I think you are wrong in your perception this time. We need to clarify here that we have two different personalities and Whoopi confirm that Mel Gibson it is not racist and everybody know that. Whoopi it is an entreteinent, she it is not 100% active in social justices issues, but at the same time she is teaching the white community what it mean friendship and how to build alliance in the society. The problem, with Mel Gibson, could be understandable if we are white, but we are not white. However, If Mel Gibson it is black guy and the problem it is not with their girlfriend it is with their employer, I know that he can said many things against their employer for be fire. You know, I am Hispanic and I lose the job in many times, we do not have record conversation about what I was thinking in that time about my employer, but I am a Christian and I never going to said Lord forgiveness for what I think about 4 or 5 human resources director white last year, with record conversation or without record conversation.
Remember, this lady, she is from Russia. She it is not white. She is pretty, but she it is not white. Mel was thinking that she is in love with him and the reality she is stolen the money of him for be pregnant in a few months, she has an strategy with restriction order and she is giving hard time to him intentional testing their reaction with record conversation, something that any male is expecting when a woman said I like to be with you and have children in a normal process. The frustration of this guy it is the frustration of anybody, if you have a lady from another nationality and she is testing with verbal abuse and acting irrational, following some strategy to destroy you, of course, you going to said with bad behaviour anything from your mouth. He is very kind because she did the same thing to another actor before. She is looking for money, not like my mother that she was working very hard to help the children until we grow up. She it is not thinking in the children. She is thinking in the money and in destroy emotional the life of her children and she is very possesive, because victims we have everywhere today, and silly people testing male we have many, the Judge know that, but a woman responsible and good mother it is not necessarily rich. You can do wherever bussines as female trying to survive, but when a woman became pregnant to use the children as economy sucess, she is a trash, like many females in USA that because they are low income they believe that they can destroy the children and the father looking for economy sucess.
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