"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed . . ."

Or so goes the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

But it's more like a long and involved trial for Penn State quarterback Rashard Casey.

Casey, who has been charged by New Jersey police with assaulting an off-duty police officer in his hometown of Hoboken May 14, is awaiting his day in court. So are the 18 Penn State students arrested during the riot during Arts Festival weekend.

While the university has not taken disciplinary action against Casey, who is scheduled to play against University of Southern California in this weekend's Kickoff Classic game, it has begun disciplining the students arrested during the riot.

Some see this as a double standard. It's unfair, they say, as both Casey and the students arrested during theriot were not convicted in a court of law yet the university has disclipined the students and not Casey. Some point to Casey's prominent status as the Penn State quarterback as the motive for the university's support.

The university maintains that while it has sufficient evidence from the State College Police Department that the students arrested during the riot were guilty of the charges brought against them, they have not received the same cooperation from the New Jersey police in providing evidence that pertains to Casey's case.

The university is independent of the public court system and has complete control over how it disciplines students involved in criminal court cases.

The university's Office of Judicial Affairs conducts its own internal investigations and often moves more quickly than most public courts.

As the university is satisfied with the evidence on the students arrested in the riot that the State College police provided, they have the right to discipline these students the way they see fit.

The university is not disciplining them with the law in mind; they are disciplining these students with the university policy in mind.

As far as the university is concerned, these students did not conduct themselves in an appropriate manner according to the university policy.

With Casey, the university does not have enough evidence or cooperation from New Jersey police to take any definitive disciplinary action against the quarterback.

As far as the university is concerned, they do not have enough facts to decide whether Casey conducted himself in an appropriate manner according to the university policy that Mother's Day weekend in May.

The fact remains, however, that the university, Casey or the students arrested in the riot would not be in this bind if the constitutional privilege of the right to a fair and speedy trial were truly a reality.

The criminal justice system in America is wrought with many problems, but something guaranteed by the Bill of Rights should not be one of them.