2008 Woodie Awards
Athletics learns from Burnam incident
Changes could come after former player's record revealed
By: Daniel Monson
Issue date: 10/22/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
The Athletics Department is using the De'Onte Burnam incident as an example of what not to do.
Burnam, a former football player was arrested Oct. 3 and charged Oct. 4 with two felony counts - one for delivering and manufacturing cocaine and another for assaulting, resisting, or obstructing a police officer. He has since been dismissed from the team.
"We're using it as an example across the entire program for what student-athletes should not be involved in," said Dave Heeke, athletics director. "It gives us a chance to reiterate to student-athletes the severity of consequences associated with this kind of behavior."
Heeke said changes could be explored after Burnam's prior arrests went unnoticed.
"Certainly any time something like this happens, the way we handle situations is evaluated. But I'm very confident we handled this situation well," he said. "We will continue to monitor student-athletes, but we don't have hidden investigations about them."
Prior to the Oct. 3 arrest, Burnam was arrested Aug. 30 in Mount Pleasant and charged with delivering and manufacturing marijuana. The arrest went undetected by Central Michigan University officials. He faces up to 40 years in prison and/or a $50,000 fine with his combined charges taken into account.
Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe said CMU receives daily arrest records from the Mount Pleasant Police Department, but there is not an effort to look at every students' prior criminal record.
"I don't see us changing our policies and procedures because of this arrest," he said. "If any student was arrested in violation we would want to be aware of it, but we're not going out looking for them. If they come to our attention, then we make a decision to whether or not the university is best served by taking some sort of disciplinary action. But I don't expect us going out and gathering, or even trying to gather, arrest reports from police agencies all over the state of Michigan."
Both Roscoe and Tony Voisin, director of Student Life, would not address the status of the Burnam case because of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
But Voisin said the university does not seek out the criminal activity of students.
"You've got five different police agencies in Mount Pleasant," he said. "We get information that is relayed to us. Not every time a student gets arrested is a code of conduct case."
MPPD Officer Dave Sabuda said the police department does not release information if a high-profile individual is arrested.
"Because someone is a football player or in the marching band and gets arrested, we wouldn't release that information," he said. "Some things are public record. If someone from the Athletics Department called and asked if someone was arrested, that's something they would have to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)."
news@cm-life.com
Burnam, a former football player was arrested Oct. 3 and charged Oct. 4 with two felony counts - one for delivering and manufacturing cocaine and another for assaulting, resisting, or obstructing a police officer. He has since been dismissed from the team.
"We're using it as an example across the entire program for what student-athletes should not be involved in," said Dave Heeke, athletics director. "It gives us a chance to reiterate to student-athletes the severity of consequences associated with this kind of behavior."
Heeke said changes could be explored after Burnam's prior arrests went unnoticed.
"Certainly any time something like this happens, the way we handle situations is evaluated. But I'm very confident we handled this situation well," he said. "We will continue to monitor student-athletes, but we don't have hidden investigations about them."
Prior to the Oct. 3 arrest, Burnam was arrested Aug. 30 in Mount Pleasant and charged with delivering and manufacturing marijuana. The arrest went undetected by Central Michigan University officials. He faces up to 40 years in prison and/or a $50,000 fine with his combined charges taken into account.
Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe said CMU receives daily arrest records from the Mount Pleasant Police Department, but there is not an effort to look at every students' prior criminal record.
"I don't see us changing our policies and procedures because of this arrest," he said. "If any student was arrested in violation we would want to be aware of it, but we're not going out looking for them. If they come to our attention, then we make a decision to whether or not the university is best served by taking some sort of disciplinary action. But I don't expect us going out and gathering, or even trying to gather, arrest reports from police agencies all over the state of Michigan."
Both Roscoe and Tony Voisin, director of Student Life, would not address the status of the Burnam case because of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
But Voisin said the university does not seek out the criminal activity of students.
"You've got five different police agencies in Mount Pleasant," he said. "We get information that is relayed to us. Not every time a student gets arrested is a code of conduct case."
MPPD Officer Dave Sabuda said the police department does not release information if a high-profile individual is arrested.
"Because someone is a football player or in the marching band and gets arrested, we wouldn't release that information," he said. "Some things are public record. If someone from the Athletics Department called and asked if someone was arrested, that's something they would have to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)."
news@cm-life.com
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