By Benjamin E. Lykens (Whetstone staff writer)

NCAA rules insist that everyone involved in Division III athletics must be treated as equals with other athletes and students.

But this may not be the case, at least with one student athlete who two faculty members said was treated differently by athletic director and football coach Mike Drass after a judicial board imposed sanctions.

Dr. Jack Barnhardt, a professor of psychology, said Mike Drass last year intervened when judicial sanctions were imposed on one of the team’s football players after he was found violating school rules.

“There were judicial sanctions placed on a football player and they were stated in a letter like they always are and backed by Student Life,” Barnhardt said. “Drass took it upon himself to impose his own sanctions and ignored the original ones.”

Dean of Students Mary-Alice Ozechoski refused comment, and Drass refused to address the issue of the student, but reiterated that athletes at Wesley don’t get any favorable treatment.

“I need to go 2-8 and everyone will forget about me,” he said, “because that’s the problem with winning. People are just trying to get after you when you win.”