In March of 2016, the NCAA announced that Kalamazoo College would be penalized as a result of numerous violations. The violations included involvement in awarding financial aid, recruitment practices and failure to monitor NCAA financial aid regulations. The College cooperated throughout the entire process and accepted full responsibility for those violations. As a result, the NCAA placed K on probation for three years and placed a ban on post-season competition, including conference tournaments, regular season conference championship consideration and NCAA championship opportunities. The College accepted those sanctions and has since complied with NCAA rules and regulations.
However, as of June 2017, it seems that, despite the College’s cooperation with the NCAA, the MIAA was not satisfied with those punishments. On June 22, 2017, the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) announced that a number of major sanctions would be imposed against Kalamazoo College as a result to NCAA rule violations that happened in March of 2016.
In addition to the already imposed sanctions that were made by the NCAA in March of 2016, the MIAA decided that all Hornet regular-season conference wins and championships, along with post-season conference tournament wins and championships that occurred during the seasons of 2012/13 through 2015/16 will be vacated. So, essentially what this means is that all records for those seasons will reflect a 0-0 record. And as if that weren’t enough, the MIAA is also prohibiting participation in any 2017/18 post-season competition.
To put the impact of the MIAA’s decision into perspective, this means that for Kalamazoo Swimming and Diving, conference records of 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 will be recorded as 0-0; the Men’s Swimming and Diving Championship of 2013 will now cease to exist; Men’s Baseball, who were MIAA Tournament Champions in 2016 will now be unwritten from the record books; and Hornet Tennis, which holds “The Streak” of the longest record of consecutive wins in a sport of any division in the country, will now abruptly end.
It’s quite laughable really, that Kalamazoo College is being punished more harshly than Louisville’s Mens Basketball team after hiring strippers and prostitutes for their recruits. Their punishment? Vacated 2013 National Championship, Head Coach suspension and team probation. Kalamazoo’s punishment? Vacated wins including: Championships won by the Men’s and Women’s Tennis Teams (ending “The Streak”), Men’s Baseball Championship and Men’s Swimming and Diving Team Championship. Additionally, a conference post-season ban for all teams for the 2017/18 season, and lastly, probation on all athletic teams.
To strip the accomplishments, records, and championships of teams for something they had no control over basically invalidates the athletic careers and legacies of those athletes. As athletes, we sacrifice so much and put in an incredible amount of time and hard work to accomplish our goals. In 2016, the Kalamazoo Baseball team made program history by winning the MIAA Tournament. This was a huge achievement for the program and each member of the 2016 team was awarded a ring to commemorate their accomplishment. Now, given the sanctions so wonderfully imposed by the MIAA, this title no longer exists— I guess this is the MIAA’s idea of “firm, yet fair sanctions.” Metaphorically speaking, this is like buying a kid a puppy, having him grow to love the puppy for a year and then telling him he can’t have it anymore and he must give it up like it never happened. It’s absurd.
Naturally, the MIAA’s decision was not taken lightly, especially since all K student-athletes were under the impression that this issue was put to rest after the NCAA’s intervention in 2016. As a student-athlete myself, the announcement felt like a stab in the back. Because while the athletes are affiliated to the school, it is ultimately Kalamazoo College, the institution, that is at fault. Not us, the athletes. Honestly, this decision hurts.
And while it’s infuriating that this is the reality of Kalamazoo’s athletic programs, it’s even more upsetting that the punishment is directly affecting the athletes and not the individuals who made the mistakes in the first place; the mistakes of others is costing collegiate athletic careers to be destroyed. How can one justify this as being fair?
As Hornets, we know who we are and what we’ve accomplished; that can’t be erased. We know how many conference championships we’ve attended and won; that can’t be erased. And we know the records we hold from 2013-2016; that can’t be erased.
Most importantly, the feelings after winning a conference or tournament cannot be erased. The MIAA may be able to erase numbers or names, but it is unable to touch the experiences and memories that were made while leaving our mark in MIAA history. Like most of my fellow student-athletes, I am angry. I’m upset, and it saddens me to see athletes from other sports being punished so harshly. It’s tough, but what’s done is done, and we can only move forward. Let’s attack the upcoming season head on and show the conference what we’re made of. We’re in this together.
Go Hornets.
