Charges brought against several large names in the world of college athletics have made headlines in recent months. Despite this coverage, an Iowa State Daily investigation revealed a relatively low number of ISU student-athletes having a criminal record in Iowa.

Earlier this semester, University of Iowa basketball player Pierre Pierce pleaded guilty to charges of assault causing injury in November. Then ISU basketball player Chris Alexander was suspended from the team in October after a bar fight.

Yet the Daily investigation shows only 6.6 percent of ISU student-athletes have any type of Iowa criminal record.

The men’s basketball team had more players arrested than any other athletic team — four of the 13 members, nearly 31 percent, have some sort of criminal violation in Iowa. The numbers include Alexander, who was suspended from the team.

Violations include underage possession of alcohol, assault with no intent of injury, operating a vehicle while intoxicated and urinating in public.

The men’s golf team had the second-highest ranking, with three out of the 12 members, or 25 percent, with some type of criminal record. Two members had been charged with possession under age, and one had pleaded guilty to public intoxication and reckless driving.

The Daily used the most current team rosters available from each sports team and ran the names of the team members through the Iowa Courts Online Web site, www.iowacourtsonline.org. This Web site has records of all criminal charges filed in the state of Iowa.

Bill Smith, associate athletics director for sports administration, said the athletic department has a strict suspension policy it follows for athletes who get in trouble with the law.

Smith said any student who violates a local, state or federal law is automatically suspended by the director of athletics if the charges are drug-related or for a violent action or a felony.

He said he believes this policy has been effective.

“We do get notice of any illegal activities our student-athletes have engaged in or have been charged with doing,” Smith said.

The athletic department gets notice by reading the police blotters to monitor which students violate the law, he said.

“We do our own review of the police blotters to make sure we catch as much as possible,” Smith said.

The head coaches individually handle all other law violations, such as a minor in possession of alcohol infraction, Smith said. Alcohol is not considered a drug in the athletic director’s suspension policy.

Smith could not answer why this was not included in the policy because he was not employed with the athletic department at the time the policy was created. He did say the athletic department has not examined whether to add alcohol to the policy while he has been employed there.

The Daily’s investigation showed 75 percent of the incidents that involved athletes were alcohol-related.

The women’s swimming team, men’s wrestling team, women’s golf team, women’s soccer team and the women’s tennis team all had no athletes with any type of Iowa criminal record.

Duane Sorenson, women’s swimming coach, said the swimming team has the same policy as the other teams.

He said although they have no team members who have been in trouble with the law, he understands that they are “not angels” and that mistakes can happen. Sorenson said if a mistake does happen and a student athlete violates the law, he expects them to come and tell him.

“I want the team, the individuals, to be very honest with me because I am honest with them,” Sorenson said.

Sorenson said he believes there are several reasons his team members do not have criminal charges. The women on his team know that they are ambassadors of the university and that they serve as role models to younger children.

“We do a pretty good job of taking care of each other as far as other team members making sure [teammates] do not put themselves in a situation to get in trouble with the law,” he said.

He also said they recruit very high-quality people to be members of the swimming and diving team.

Bobby Douglas, men’s wrestling head coach, said at the beginning of each season Ames Police and ISU Police come in and talk with the men on his team.

“We make sure they know who we are and we know who they are,” Douglas said.

Douglas said Dwight Hinson, a volunteer coach on the wrestling team and an ISU Police officer, also counsels the team on a regular basis.

Douglas said he normally finds out about a law violation by reading it in the paper or having the men come and tell him.

His course of action after that depends on the charges against the athlete, he said. Team members can receive a warning or they can be dismissed from the team.

The men’s golf head coach, Jay Horton, declined to comment on his policies or procedures. According to the Daily investigation, 25 percent of the golf team members have violated the law in some way.

Smith said the athletic department takes any violation of the law by a student athlete seriously.

“I think any time you have any type of criminal activity it is something to be concerned about,” Smith said.

He said that is the reason the athletic department has their suspension policy — it works well and it allows for the law to decide the guilt of a player.

Smith said he did not believe the statistics the Daily found were an area of concern when compared to the statistics of the entire student body.

According to the “Safety and You” report published by the Department of Public Safety and enrollment numbers from the Iowa State Fact Book, about 2 percent of the entire student population of 27,823 received liquor law violations for the year 2001, including student athletes.

According to the Daily investigation, about 1 percent of all student-athletes received a liquor law violation in the year 2001. This figure does not take into consideration student-athletes who received liquor law violations in other years.

Smith also said he did not think there was a problem with any individual team.

“I don’t think the numbers are significant enough to indicate that we have a problem with certain teams rather than others,” Smith said.

The Daily’s investigation did have some limitations. The court records the Daily used were only from the state of Iowa. Any athlete who violated the law in another state would not have been identified.

The Daily also used the most current rosters available. This could mean individuals who are no longer on the team or individuals who have graduated may have been left out of the investigation.

Smith said he believes that student athletes are often seen as role models to others, and he believes the student athletes understand that responsibility and take it very seriously.