Rape allegation stuns BYU

Something awful may have happened in a drab cinder-block apartment building in Provo, behind a closed door and shuttered windows.

Inside the walls of a second-floor apartment the night of Aug. 8, a 17-year-old girl may have been goaded into watching pornography with a group of football players.

She may have guzzled vodka until she was drunk. And then she may have excused herself to a bedroom, where she may have passed out.

Few know for sure what occurred that night at the University Villa apartment complex. Maybe nothing happened at all.

But allegations that at least two Brigham Young University football players gang raped the girl have rattled the team, embarrassed the school — and shocked this largely Mormon community.

Add BYU to the list of schools where athletes have been accused of sexual assault.

It happened at the University of Colorado in 1997 and again in 2001, at Oklahoma State in 1999, and at the University of Florida in 2000. Then there are the professional athletes who have faced rape charges: Mike Tyson, Kirby Puckett and now, Kobe Bryant.

Still, BYU is supposed to be different. It is built on a hill for a reason. This is the school where women weren't allowed to wear jeans until the 1980s, where men can't grow beards or wear earrings, where caffeinated soda is considered a strong drink.

At BYU, classes begin with a prayer, shorts reach the knees and most coeds hope dates end with a chaste kiss — not sex.

Gang rape at BYU? It doesn't sound right, which explains why the cable sports network ESPN flew into Provo Thursday, asking the same question most everyone in Utah Valley is asking: How could this happen at BYU, a religious school with one of the most stringent behavior codes in the nation? And if it's happening here, what does that say about the landscape of college sports in general?

The lists of both collegiate and professional athletes accused of sexual assault in the last few years raises a larger question: Are athletes, especially those who play violent or aggressive sports, more prone to sexual violence than other men? Or do their cases just get more media attention? And if athletes do in fact commit sex crimes more often than non-athletes, what can schools do to stop it?

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Don McPherson knows what it means to be a man. Stick to your guns, never show fear or sensitivity, and never, ever throw like a girl.