College Athletes - Privileged Perverts, Rapists, Thieves, Fraudsters, and Liars In America today, sporting events play an important role in the reflective perception and financial standing of a given community. It is for this reason that the people involved in these events are also important to the community. Because of the esteemed and highly influential role assigned to athletes, they are often afforded privileges that would not normally be afforded to them if they were not athletes. These privileges are granted to recruit athletes and, once recruited, to maintain their status on the team so that, in turn, the team's status is not negatively affected. To understand the importance of an athlete's role it is necessary to first examine the role of the sporting event in which the athlete participates and the level of importance attributed to this event. Many communities view local college athletic teams as a reflection of their society. It is therefore important for community members that their team represents them in the best possible way. Since American society is competitive in nature, the basis on which democracy is built, the way a team's representation is judged is by its level of play. If a team is successful in competitive matches with other teams, it establishes itself in a superior position compared to those teams. This in turn creates a sense of pride in the community because the team representing them beat teams representing other communities. This develops a larger fan base and greater support than if a team were to lose "because people won't come to see a team lose" (qtd. in Suggs A42). This support is important to the team because this is where the team receives most of the skills and performance which is primarily based on the athletes participating in the athletic programs. In order to recruit and retain top athletes for their college athletic programs, both coaches and colleges have made many exceptions and broken many rules. Preferential treatment of athletes is just one of the areas in which such exceptions have been made. Regardless of the area in which exceptions are made, these variations from the social norm are driven by the high demands and expectations placed on athletic teams to represent their community through success in competitive endeavors. Once again, a team's level of success determines its level of community support and therefore its survival due to its need to be self-sufficient. Unfortunately, the exceptions made and privileges granted are often to the detriment of the average student, the non-athlete.