Editorials

For 11 months, Jacksonville State University's athletic department has refused to inform the public about its methods for testing student-athletes for banned substances.

It's a curious stance for an institution that values earning and keeping the public's trust.

It's sad but true that drugs — both illegal narcotics and performance-enhancing substances — have played too large of a role in modern athletics.

Seems that JSU would want parents, students, boosters, alumni, supporters and the rest of the world to know that its athletic department has a clean program, and it's keeping it that way by vigorously testing its athletes.

There's no reason to believe that there's a problem at JSU, as in high-profile cases of athletes like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens or Marion Jones. Still, in the darkness of scant information misimpressions take root.

JSU's athletic department has kept mostly quiet and referred almost all questions about drug testing to its attorney.

According to the school's legal counsel, releasing results, even raw numbers, would fail to protect personal medical privacy. It's valid to worry that too specific data might jeopardize a person's medical privacy. However, it shouldn't preclude Jacksonville State athletic department sources from speaking up about the basics of the program.

The story becomes even more curious by the revelation in Monday's Star that until recently JSU drug-testing has been quite lax. Several highly placed sources reported that despite strict NCAA rules banning a long list of drugs, the school's program was more theory than practice. In a twisted way, that fact lends some credibility to JSU's claim that giving raw data on drug tests might breach medical privacy laws.

It appears the school has become more serious about testing athletes since the start of the 2007 fall semester. That's good. Still, the public is owed a fuller explanation from this institution supported by taxpayer dollars.

Last week was Sunshine Week, seven days on the calendar that call attention to the need for accountability from all levels of government, including universities. This week would do just as well for a well-regarded institution such as Jacksonville State to come clean on drug-testing of athletes.