The Office of Judicial Affairs has imagined that members of Cuffs — the student organization interested in sado-masochism and bondage practices — might hurt one another. So concerned, in fact, that it has suspended Cuffs’ activities pending an investigation.

But what about all the university-sanctioned, sado-masochistic sports programs that inflict myriad real (not imagined) injuries on student athletes every year?

Flying elbows and deliberate fouls are strategic weapons in virtually all basketball games these days.

Modern football and hockey players repeatedly seek to participate in high-speed, head-on collisions with as many opposing players as possible.

This is largely why so many student athletes suffer concussions, broken bones and skin abrasions nationwide every school year.

If the Office of Judicial Affairs is concerned about the harm that sado-masochistic behavior may bring to students, why doesn’t it look into the injuries spawned by the Iowa State’s varsity athletic programs and leave the Cuffs people alone?

John W. Patterson

Professor Emeritus

Materials Science and Engineering