[log in to unmask],NNTP writes:
>for me to NOT believe that a
>comprehensive plan needs to be in place for handling these kinds of
>things in
>a considered manner.  I am not talking censorship or advocating less
>than full
>disclosure.
 
Any comprehensive plan put in place to handle these kind of things is
dangerously close to censorship. I think the bottom line for any
situation like this is finding out the truth. It sometimes seems to be
a dieing kind of journalism nowadays, but through my years in the
journalism program here, the  importance of finding out and reporting
the truth has been stressed repeatedly without compromise. The problem
with these certain "plans" is that the media   and ultimately the
public   are liable only to find out what others   usually
administrators   deem as suitable information to be released. This may
or may not be the truth. And that is the key. Of course sometimes the
problem is two-fold where as some people look at whatever the media
prints is nothing but the truth, which we have seen in certain national
situations ( i.e. Patricia Smith) isn't always the case. And that is
part of the problem. However, by telling people when to say what or
even what to say, can cast a dark cloud over what is a fundamental
right for everyone to know: the truth
        I think in more cases than not most universities are somewhat prepared
to handle potentialsituations that involve its student-athletes, but if
and when a situation actually does occur it can be totally different
from what was originally planned.