I CAN ONLY imagine how it must feel to be Marc Verica right now. Originally confined to the bench behind Jameel Sewell and Peter Lalich, the third-year quarterback is suddenly looking at starting every game this season.
On September 18th, quarterback Peter Lalich was permanently released from the football team after violating the terms of his drinking-related probation by consuming alcohol. Lalich, who turned 20 in May, had received a misdemeanor in July for underage possession of alcohol in his bloodstream.
Athletic director Craig Littlepage and head coach Al Groh both expressed regret over the situation, but stated that they “remained united” in their decision to release Lalich.
There’s no question that Lalich messed up — twice — but permanently dismissing him from the football team is a gross overreaction. Jameel Sewell, the quarterback who proceeded Lalich, is currently on suspension because of poor academic performance. This University is primarily a place of higher learning, yet the total neglect of academic pursuits receives a lesser sentence than a misdemeanor unrelated to either academics or football. It took several legal cases — including a ticket for reckless endangerment, a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and possession of marijuana — before Marcus Vick was even suspended from the Virginia Tech Hokies.
Assuming that Lalich is honest in rescinding his admission of marijuana use during his probation, his crime is one of the most common on college campuses nationwide. Obviously there’s no debating that Lalich broke the law, and it’s right that he face consequences like any student. According to Dean of Students Allen Groves, students who are arrested for underage possession of alcohol are referred to UJC for a possible sanction decided by their peers. “The University does not condone underage drinking,” Dean Groves stated, “but we’re also not naive. We want students to obey the law, but we also focus on educating those underage students who do choose to drink on ways to avoid harming themselves or others.”
The University administration does everything it can to regulate a pasttime that’s impossible to stop. The University’s policy is an excellent example of disciplinary action that reflects the relative mildness of the crime, whereas the athletic department’s reaction is unfairly harsh and ignores the reality of college culture.
Obviously, Lalich should have respected the terms of his probation. But odds are, he probably thought that it just wasn’t a big deal — he probably felt the same total lack of concern that most of us feel when we show fake IDs at Coupe’s or stumble drunkenly down Rugby Road. Lalich even stated that he thought the terms of his probation were only that he not get arrested, not that he abstain from alcohol. This misperception belies an assumption on Lalich’s part, and undoubtedly the part of many others, that the biggest concern regarding alcohol consumption isn’t whether or not you’re of age, but whether or not you get caught. The law in this case is broken so casually that most of us under 21 even forget that what we’re doing is illegal if we’re out drinking at a party. College drinking culture is so pervasive, so widely acknowledged, that most of us drink assuming total impunity — even in broad daylight before football games or out on a porch as cop cars meander by.
College students get two conflicting messages about underage drinking. We know it’s illegal, but the media portrays it as a timeless tradition in movies like Old School, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder and Superbad. We read statistics about it in the Stall Seat Journal and get pamphlets on what to do if our friends get alcohol poisoning. All of these things essentially acknowledge that underage drinking is pretty harmless as long as we’re not endangering ourselves or others. We recognize the severity of an arrest for violent crime, but the message seems to us to be that it’s actually okay to drink underage as long as we’re responsible. The idea that it might have serious legal ramifications seems ludicrous to many of us, and in most cases, a single night in jail is the severest retribution we might face.
Peter Lalich likely didn’t expect to face any serious consequences, either. What happened to him was the ultimate unfairness: one person being punished for a crime that innumerable others, in and outside of sports, get away with every day. Lalich may not be your average student, but he’s still a 20-year-old kid who is going to make mistakes in the pursuit of a little collegiate fun. Regardless of its legal status, the college drinking culture is well-known, and it is generally met with a “kids will be kids” mentality that merits little more than knowing smiles from alumnae who remember their own fraternity heyday. In Lalich’s case, an offense that he had every reason to believe would be met with a scolding, or at worst a suspension, was suddenly an unforgivable infraction. What are we to make of these mixed messages? Is underage drinking a harmless college pastime, or a crime worthy of permanent dismissal?
There’s no question that Peter Lalich made a mistake, and he deserved to face consequences. However, the severity of Lalich’s punishment wasn’t warranted given the relative harmlessness of his crime.
Michelle Lamont is a Cavalier Daily Viewpoint Writer.
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