It's happening all over again.

During the fall of 2001, Penn State wrestler Jean M. Celestin was sentenced to two years expulsion after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old female and former Penn State student.

The university system failed this victim in multiple ways. It failed to prevent a convicted sexual assaulter from returning to University Park. It failed to protect the victim from the alleged taunting and harassment of Celestin's friends. Eventually, after all the emotional trauma, she left.

Fast forward to 2003 and Judicial Affairs has done it again. Another Penn State athlete, another sexual assault, another lax sentence. And Nittany Lion Anwar Phillips, a nickelback on the football team, was not only accused of assaulting his victim -- according to police, he also admitted it.

But let's jump back again, to the 2000-2001 men's basketball season. Yeah, that one glorious season when we finally made it to the Sweet 16, only to fall to Temple. The streets filled with riotous people. One man decided to streak down the street. A few months later, he finds himself without a degree. (Because a naked man can cause a lot of harm running down the street.) I wonder if those same Judicial Affair members who stripped him of his degree would laugh when Will Ferrell runs naked down the street of his old college in Old School. Maybe they'd shudder with fear.

Apparently, whether Judicial Affairs has intended to or not, it has created a gradient system. It goes like this: Non-athlete, indecent exposure of your naked body can not only get you expelled, but it can get you "expelled" post-graduation; athlete for a sport that doesn't make any money (wrestling), sexually assaulting a woman gets you two years expulsion; athlete for a sport that rakes it in (football), allegedly sexually assaulting a woman gets you two semesters expulsion.

But maybe it's not athletes getting the preferential treatment. What about other sexual assaults on campus? Hung Truong, a 22-year old student, after indecently assaulting six women in 2001, was permanently expelled. Hmmm ... but that's a 6-1 ratio, because of course the pain of six women is more deserving of a harsh sentence than the pain of just one sexual assault victim.

Well, maybe fraternity brothers also get preferential treatment. Oh, wait. It seems that former Sigma Alpha Epsilon brother Daniel N. Purtell was not only expelled, but the charges against him were one of many charges that led the Interfraternity Council to revoke his entire fraternity's charter, which caused it to lose its house. Maybe the IFC should oversee these sexual assault cases, since they're at least willing to doll out some real punishments. At least, in this case, they seemed to have a sense of right and wrong.

Judicial Affairs would probably swear up and down that the fact that someone is an athlete has nothing to do with the sentences it hands out. And it might be telling the truth. The problem is, its record shows that it does. And, if Judicial Affairs is using some other determining factors in handing out these sentences, it is certainly not being forthcoming about its methods. Does any student on this campus understand what guidelines Judicial Affairs uses to make its rulings? Who can students turn to to make sure that the office is being fair and balanced?

It seems the victims in these cases turned to Judicial Affairs for help, and Judicial Affairs gave them one, big patronizing pat on the back and cooed, "It'll be okay, you'll get over this personal violation in no time." Then it turned to the perpetrators and told them to hide away for a while and return later to Nittany Lions sports glory.

If Anwar Phillips returns in 2004 and steps into Beaver Stadium as an honored and respected Nittany Lion, what does that say to the alleged victim who will have to live with the memories of his alleged deviant act for the rest of her life? What does it say if he is allowed to graduate with the same degree that she does?

It says that if you're an athlete, you can get away with anything.