ex-Valpo player Jay Harris suspended

[vufan75]

http://www.hoops247.com/index.php/newsstand/2760-jay-harris-suspended-for-season

Jay Harris suspended for rest of season from Wagner basketball team.

[mj]

Earlier this year I looked at his Wagner roster picture and was shocked. Besides becoming all tatted up, he appeared to have lost some weight...like the way a person who's on meth looks like. Hopefully that's not the case.

This year's photo http://www.wagnerathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4981&path=mbball

Last year's http://www.wagnerathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4297

Valpo http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/roster/2011-12/5584/jay-harris/

[VULB#62]

He also shrunk from 6' 2" to 6' 1'' by going east to Staten Island.

[classof2014]

My best guess would be a marijuana possession.

[vu72]

Hey come on guys.  This commentary is not Valpo like. Jay decided to pursue a different path because (most likely) the handwriting was on the wall concerning the incoming freshman class.  He was apparently doing well at another school and made some sort of mistake.  Let it lie.  After all, he did choose another Lutheran school!!

[wh]

...has been suspended for the remainder of the season for what has been described as a "violation of school policy."

The infraction was not basketball or team-related, sources said.

Certainly, illegal use of drugs would be a violation of team rules, so that can't be the reason he was suspended. 

[Smj]

Just seems strange that it is the remainder of the season.    Seems pretty harsh if it was having a girl in his dorm after hours or having a toaster in your dorm room or smoking on campus or having a snowball fight or defending a gay student that was being bullied ...

Remainder of season means it must have been something major.    Otherwise it would have been a couple games. 

[wh]

Think about what happened to Notre Dame star quarterback Everett Golson. He was suspended for the fall semester—and the 2013 football season—for an academic violation of the university's honor code. Or remember what happened to WSU's Hopkins when he was at Butler. As we all know there are certain lines having nothing to do with athletics that if crossed can land a student - any student - in serious trouble.

For the record I'm not suggesting that either of these situations apply to Jay. I have no more idea what happened than anyone else.

[FWalum]

Just need everyone to remember that this is an OPEN forum accessible to everyone on the planet.  We are not just ruminating among ourselves.  If someone outside of our group is Googling (searching) to see why Jay was suspended, they will see the insinuation on this board that it could have been a drug issue.  Never mind that this was complete speculation, one could come to the conclusion, however unfounded, that VU got rid of him for some reason... they should know what he was like... even if the move was completely Jay's idea as to what was best for him.  I know as an employer who does background checks and internet searches on potential employees that I would not want to see the words meth, marijuana possession and suspended on a forum discussion about someone applying to our company.  I think those posts and any speculation along those lines be scrubbed as completely as possible from this forum and these insinuations stopped until proof of serious wrongdoing presents itself. 

Thank you wh and Vu72 for initially blowing the whistle on this.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

If someone outside of our group is Googling (searching) to see why Jay was suspended, they will see the insinuation on this board that it could have been a drug issue.

Good point.

I was going to make a meme juxtaposing this pic
http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/roster/2011-12/5584/jay-harris/
"this is your brain"
with this pic
http://www.wagnerathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4981&path=mbball
"this is your brain on staten island"

and the payoff "any questions?" because I think it's funny and easy to pick on the poor island borough, but didn't even think of the drug use implications of it, until you pointed it out.  so i won't.

here's hoping the best for Jay.  Once a Crusader, always a Crusader.

[Smj]

I don't know anything about what actually happened and did not really speculate anything highly inappropriate.  (joked about other suspensions in the news and a couple things that I got in trouble for at school) 

I just know he did not seem happy here his last year and he seemed to be fitting in well (player wise) at Wagner. I kept following his career (and other past Valpo players).   I truely hope everything is okay for him...

[historyman]

A Wagner students view of their school's strictness which can add some background to the situation but explains nothing to what happened in Jay Harris' particular situation.


Written by Alex Videll

In terms of public safety, Wagner has recently gotten a little stricter. There have been a few incidents with guests in the residence halls, so they're really cracking down on checking IDs, which isn't really a big hassle at all. Each student can have up to two guests at a time, but they must be signed in and can only stay for two days. Your guests have to stay with you at all times, which can get tricky if they're visiting during the week, when you have class. Even though each student is allowed to have up to two guests, there are ways around this. For example, if you have three people coming to visit, you can sign in two of them and your roommate can sign in the third person. Public Safety has also stopped allowing cars into the inner campus because some students were leaving their cars parked outside the residence halls for too long (the Student Government Association is working to get this rule changed). In general, the Public Safety staff is friendly, and they'll work with you as long as you're respectful to them. If you need help while you're on campus, they'll help you as quickly as they can.

Underage drinking and drug use are taken pretty seriously at Wagner, so you have to be careful where you drink and who you're drinking with. If you're underage, you can be written up just for being in a room with alcohol, even if you're not drinking. And, depending on the situation, you can get in serious trouble. The same goes for drug use, so use your best judgment. Wagner also takes academic dishonesty very seriously. The academic honor code was designed by the student body with the idea that when you cheat, you're not just hurting yourself and the person you cheated from, but you're also hurting the integrity of the college as a whole. If you're caught cheating, you're required to go before a committee of both students and faculty, and it's very difficult to get out off without any consequences. Wagner has an extremely low tolerance for cheating, which is important in any academic institution.

GRADE  A-


http://colleges.niche.com/wagner-college/campus-strictness/

[vu72]

A Wagner students view of their school's strictness which can add some background to the situation but explains nothing to what happened in Jay Harris' particular situation.


Written by Alex Videll

In terms of public safety, Wagner has recently gotten a little stricter. There have been a few incidents with guests in the residence halls, so they're really cracking down on checking IDs, which isn't really a big hassle at all. Each student can have up to two guests at a time, but they must be signed in and can only stay for two days. Your guests have to stay with you at all times, which can get tricky if they're visiting during the week, when you have class. Even though each student is allowed to have up to two guests, there are ways around this. For example, if you have three people coming to visit, you can sign in two of them and your roommate can sign in the third person. Public Safety has also stopped allowing cars into the inner campus because some students were leaving their cars parked outside the residence halls for too long (the Student Government Association is working to get this rule changed). In general, the Public Safety staff is friendly, and they'll work with you as long as you're respectful to them. If you need help while you're on campus, they'll help you as quickly as they can.

Underage drinking and drug use are taken pretty seriously at Wagner, so you have to be careful where you drink and who you're drinking with. If you're underage, you can be written up just for being in a room with alcohol, even if you're not drinking. And, depending on the situation, you can get in serious trouble. The same goes for drug use, so use your best judgment. Wagner also takes academic dishonesty very seriously. The academic honor code was designed by the student body with the idea that when you cheat, you're not just hurting yourself and the person you cheated from, but you're also hurting the integrity of the college as a whole. If you're caught cheating, you're required to go before a committee of both students and faculty, and it's very difficult to get out off without any consequences. Wagner has an extremely low tolerance for cheating, which is important in any academic institution.

GRADE  A-


http://colleges.niche.com/wagner-college/campus-strictness/

Given Valpo's Honor Code and drinking/drug use policies, Wagner's seems very similar if not exactly the same.

[koala]

Hello everyone, it's been a while since I have been on but I felt the need to write on Jay's behalf.   I have spoken to him mum, Mari and she is so disappointed that people would write such lies about Jay.   He has not done anything illegal or taken drugs.   Yes he does have tattoos but so did some of our former players and most likely some of our future players will too?   He is still in class and will graduate on time with his degree.   If he was doing any of what is written above then why would the school let him remain?   It's sad that people write such negative stuff about former players and forget what they did for the team when they played at Valpo.       

[valpospartan]

Hello everyone, it's been a while since I have been on but I felt the need to write on Jay's behalf.   I have spoken to him mum, Mari and she is so disappointed that people would write such lies about Jay.   He has not done anything illegal or taken drugs.   Yes he does have tattoos but so did some of our former players and most likely some of our future players will too?   He is still in class and will graduate on time with his degree.   If he was doing any of what is written above then why would the school let him remain?   It's sad that people write such negative stuff about former players and forget what they did for the team when they played at Valpo.       

Nicely said

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Yeah, I get all that, but the bottom line is he did something to get suspended.  For the rest of the season, no less.

Being mad at us for speculating (is there anything more basic a part of human nature?) seems like misdirected anger or disappointment that might better be aimed at the person who let himself and his team down.

[HC]

When you are a star athlete at any college level you are going to be presented with opportunities that will test your morals and your character. Whether it is drugs, money, girls, academic assistance, etc....it's all there.  He obviously in someone's eyes at his school made the wrong decision on something.  All I know about Jay, is that he was my youngest son's (he was 2 at the time) favorite swim instructor a few summers back and he wouldn't scream when Jay Harris was there to pull him around the swimming pool.

[Chairback]

This whole thread should be deleted from this forum.  Embarrassing.

[a3uge]

Earlier this year I looked at his Wagner roster picture and was shocked. Besides becoming all tatted up, he appeared to have lost some weight...like the way a person who's on meth looks like. Hopefully that's not the case.

This year's photo http://www.wagnerathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4981&path=mbball

Last year's http://www.wagnerathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4297

Valpo http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/roster/2011-12/5584/jay-harris/

Wait, he lost weight? Is that possible?

[valpo04]

This whole thread should be deleted from this forum.  Embarrassing.

An ex-Valpo player is suspended for the remainder of the season and someone makes a post about it here. I fail to see why it should be deleted.

Because people speculated as to why he was suspended?

If someone said "HE WAS SUSPENDED BECAUSE HE _____", that would be wrong and would be deleted. No one presented any of their speculation as fact.

While speculating isn't right, it doesn't warrant deleting this thread. Jay Harris was suspended. Someone saw that and posted a thread about it. People naturally wondered what he did to warrant the suspension. There's nothing wrong with that and I don't find it "embarrassing."

[valpopal]

Apparently the NEC conference has an ongoing problem that it must address, plus the lack of information provided only feeds speculation and concerns: "Mr. Harris' transgressions represent the third major incident to befall NEC basketball in the last three weeks... When reached about the rash of suspensions at the NEC men's basketball programs, Ralph Ventre, Northeast Conference Director of Communications, declined comment, explaining that the recent infractions were not imposed by the conference. However, the embarrassing glut of suspended athletes certainly puts a tarnish on what had been a recent run of positive press for the ten-member conference...."

http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/65581

[VULB#62]

 Koala's point is well taken:   "He is still in class and will graduate on time with his degree.   If he was doing any of what is written above then why would the school let him remain? "    Is there anything on any Wagner forum that could shed any more light on this?

[LaPorteAveApostle]

plus the lack of information provided only feeds speculation and concerns

ding ding ding winner.

also "third major incident"...yikes.  continue to be grateful for the good--not pristine, but very good--program we have here.

[historyman]

I did notice that Jay Harris had been suspended for one game earlier in the year, Nov.12 against D-II Chestnut Hill College. In this story on St John's Harris is mentioned as returning from a one game suspension just prior to the Wagner/St John's game on Fri Nov.15.

http://www.rumbleinthegarden.com/2013/11/14/5104314/st-john-wagner-seahawks-pregame-five-questions

At that point the rest of the Wagner backcourt, including Valparaiso transfer Jay Harris who is returning from his one-game suspension


If you check the previous 2 games to St. John's on the Wagner schedule, Jay played 36 minutes against Penn State on Nov. 9 and zero minutes against Chestnut Hill.

http://www.wagnerathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=mbball&id=6825

http://www.wagnerathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=mbball&id=6826