Editorial__ Nebraskan University ot Nebraska-Lincoln Mike Reilley, Editor, 472-1766 Jeanne Bourne, Editorial Page Editor Jen Deselms, Managing Editor Mike Hooper, Assix'iate News Editor Scott Harrah, Night Nines Editor Joan Rezac, Copy Desk Chief Linda Hartmann, Wire Editor Collegiate drug tests NCAA should challenge judge’s ruling A Superior Court judge’s ruling last week has left the NCAA with a drug testing program and a set of rules that can’t be enforced. Judge Conrad Rushing ruled that the NCAA’s drug testing pro gram violates the Constitution. He barred the organization from test ing Stanford athletes for steroid and cocaine use in all sports except football and men’s basketball, The Associated Press reported. The ruling has several prob lems. It assumes that only football and male basketball players use the drugs, which isn’t necessarily true. For example, former Ne braska shotputtcr Joe Staub has said he used steroids when he set the Comhuskcr shot put record in 1981 — before the NC \ \ banned the drug and tested for it. Staub has since quit using steroids and has denounced their use to high school athletes he now coaches in Ore Staub’s case was only one inci dent. If the NCAA withdrew test ing for sports other than football and men’s basketball, steroid use would again run rampant in other college sports. In the Stanford case, football player Barry McKeever and soccer testing violated their privacy. McKeever said he lound the drug test “degrading, humiliating and deeply embarrassing.” But it also can save lives. Just last spring, New York Mels pitcher Dwight Gooden tested positive for cocaine use and entered a drug rehabilitation program. Gooden got help because of testing, but others haven’t been so lucky. Former Maryland basket ball star Len Bias died two years ago from cocaine use. Stanford president Donald Kennedy opposed the testing and supported the athletes, saying that “student athletes should be treated like other students.” And they should be — to a point. But Kennedy needs to remember that participating in intercollegiate athletics is a privi lege, not a requirement, and that “student athletes” must meet cer tain standards. Testing is the only way to keep college athletics fair. Steroids add bulk necessary for weight-training and while cocaine has no scientific advantage, many athletes have said it gives them a mental “edge” when preparing for a game. These drugs give athletes who break rules an advantage over those who fol low them. The Stanford “test ease” sets a dangerous precedent for other university athletic departments. The ruling applies only to Stan ford, but itcould influence athletes at other universities to challenge the program. Soon, the NCAA could be left with rules and no way to keep anyone from breaking them. Rushing ordered the NCAA to stop testing in 26 sports at S tanford and to return to court Dec. 4 with a plan for testing football and men’s basketball players. Rushing will decide on that day whether to make the decision permanent. The NCAA hasn’t satd whether it will appeal the decision or not. The DN encourages it to. If the NCAA wants to “clean up”college athletics, it needs the legal support to do so. It should be free to test and punish athletes who break its rules on drugs. And who knows, the NCAA just might save an athlete’s life with its tests. Quibbles & bits Virgins are wanted to be role models • a proressorot public health said at the second annual Drug Abuse Prevention Conference that alcohol availability should be restricted. “It makes no sense to let serv ice stations sell beer,” professor Dan Beauchamp told The Asso ciated Press. He said alcohol shouldn’t be sold in drug stores and supermarkets, either. He also advocated health warning labels on beer, wine and liquor bottles, similar to those on cigaiate packages. But Beauchamp is overlook ing the fact that people can still get alcohol if they really want it. It doesn’t matter if it’s a liquor store or a drug store. Beauchamp said he would not support a return to prohibi ; tion as in the 1930s, although his proposal is a step in that " direction. But the measures he does ad vocate arc clearly discrimina tory. The supermarket, drug store and service station owners would lose sales if they weren’t allowed to sell alcohol. • Ninctcen-ycar-old virgins could win $1,000 in a special lottery. An eccentric million aire, John Napoleon La Lone, who “talk(s) to God every night” wanted to help alleviate the problems of teenage preg nancy and sexually transmitted diseases. A United Press International story out of New York reported that dozens of young women have applied to participate in his “Model Student" project. Details of how virginity would be proven arc still being worked out. La Cortc said he also re ceived calls from young men who said they wanted the names of the girls. Employers called who said, “We want to give a preference to those girls.” • University of Colorado ad ministrators say they are not en couraging a sexual “free-for all” by allowing condom dis pensers in dormitories. “Since dorms are where the students feel most comfortable and where they live and are most likely to engage in sexual behavior, il is really important to have condoms available there,” Eddie Pacheco, Colo rado student government leader, told The Denver Post. F .—^kv.. f- A" < . • ... ! ' ' : '' '''' ' '' Sftiii.O.'i'W r n : »»> ..:*><•*■■—v'- .1 — nn. II y^ —rrriT; i i iilfr auo y