Bubu Palo, an Iowa State basketball player on scholarship, was recently allowed back on the team after he was accused of sexually assaulting a female that he was driving home, according to Fox News.

While one can usually draw a simple conclusion

Did the desire to succeed in the sports spotlight dominate the morals of the university? Or maybe the demand for a player of his talent was more important than the respect of the woman he assaulted?

Steven Leath, the Iowa State president, voiced his disapproval of the decision to put Palo back on the team, saying to Fox News:

“Bubu is suited up. He’s on the team. It is what it is right now. Obviously, I disagreed because I saw this differently than the judicial system outside of campus.”

Who would agree with the decision? Certainly not most people.

It looks like the Athletics department had no problem putting Palo back on the team, even if the team means the bench.

Palo’s actions appear to have gone unnoticed and unpunished, which is probably for the reason that many people are thinking but won’t admit: the team can’t afford him to take him off of the roster, even if it is the moral thing to do, even if it is the bench.

The Fox News article states that the chances of Palo playing are slim, unless a large portion of the team becomes injured.

Regardless, Palo still obtains a scholarship at Iowa State. I think many would agree that actions such as a sexual assault shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Acknowledging the action shouldn’t mean keeping a scholarship and staying on a sports team. It just means the opposite.

The next strange part of the story: Fox News said that while the head basketball Coach Fred Hoiberg, “who has typically been accommodating to reporters in his four seasons at Iowa State, has refused to discuss Palo.”

The obvious conclusion is that everyone knows the decision is immoral, but the importance of the sports spotlight trumps the moral decision, or so it appears, in this case.