A lesson from last quarter

By Chris Furnari

Two Santa Clara athletes, Bill Gorin and Tommy Hendrickson, were arrested during finals week on suspicion of burglary, according to Santa Clara police.

The two Broncos, both members of the men's water polo team, allegedly stole laptops, iPods and other pieces of electronic equipment from area houses and posted the items for sale on Craigslist, police said.

While the two individuals remain innocent until proven guilty, and I cannot say for sure whether or not they in fact stole the items, I will make a few observations about the entire situation in general.

I don't understand why any student, especially an athlete, would steal from fellow students. I know that sometimes the temptation of stealing that 20 dollar bill sitting on the desk in an empty room at a house party might get the better of some people, but we aren't just talking about 20 bucks here.

Stealing laptops, which undoubtedly contain personal information, music, photographs and schoolwork, and then selling them on the Internet is not only wrong, but just plain stupid.

As Santa Clara students, we are given an incredible opportunity to attend a great academic institution in a safe community.

For this reason, many students think we don't have to worry about things being stolen, locking our doors or violence on campus. In the rare instances that these situations do arise, the blame is almost always placed on outsiders.

I mean, how could a Santa Clara student ever do anything wrong, right?

If what police allege is true, then it's a powerful reminder that crime on this campus isn't always committed by a "non-affiliate." What we can learn is to be more careful and be weary of even our friends at Santa Clara.

So before pointing the finger blindly at "San Jose State kids," remember that it could very well have been one of your classmates.

Secondly, I hope that there is no sort of backlash from this. Sure, the situation allegedly involved two water polo players, according to police, but that doesn't automatically mean that all student-athletes are potential criminals. We also shouldn't place the rest of their team in a category and have a slanted look at these athletes now.

Student-athletes are an important part of this community, and their many contributions this year shouldn't be overshadowed by this unfortunate incident.

As we move past this, it's important to remember that the decisions we make will always affect the Santa Clara community, athletes or not.