Florida State still enabling Winston

Well, we finally figured out what it takes to get suspended from the Florida State football team.

Jameis Winston, the No. 1 Seminoles’ Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, will not suit up for the first half of the team’s battle with No. 22 Clemson this Saturday. Winston was suspended following reports that he yelled obscenities at fellow students while standing atop a table inside FSU’s student union.

The redshirt sophomore apologized for his “selfish act,” accepted his punishment, and will watch as the nation moves on. Just as he did when he was cleared of a sexual assault charge under questionable circumstances. Just as he did when he avoided suspension for shoplifting from a grocery store last spring. And just as he will do as long as he’s playing quarterback for Florida State.

I doubt the Seminoles’ coaching staff will receive much criticism regarding Winston’s suspension. Their punishment was laid down quickly, and actually was a punishment, which is new for them. Hell, head coach Jimbo Fisher and his staff might even receive some praise — they weren’t forced to suspend Jameis, and the Tigers are slated to be FSU’s only ranked conference opponent this season. In fact, I can hear Fisher defending his honorable decision right now…

Guys, we’re really cracking down on our team’s behavioral problems. We suspended Jameis for the Clemson game! Well, half of it. But that’s what, at least six or seven possessions? Plus, Clemson’s our toughest opponent of the year! Well, after Notre Dame and probably Oklahoma State. But Clemson’s in the ACC, and they’re really good! Well, we did beat them 51-14 last year while they still had Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins, but hey, they put up a fight against Georgia, didn’t they? And they really took it to South Carolina State last week…

Ok, we all know this “suspension” is a joke. Jameis got in trouble again, and the coaching staff knew it couldn’t continue to let its best player avoid punishment for fear of legitimate public scrutiny. Something had to be done — I mean, something had to be done as long as it didn’t actually cost the Seminoles a win. The solution? Suspending him for half the game!

It’s genius really; Winston’s latest screw-up came during the week of a “tough” matchup, so it wouldn’t be fair to keep him out for the whole game. It’s a win-win — the public is appeased, FSU looks like its finally taking off-the-field issues seriously and the football team (remember, that’s what’s important here) only loses its fearless leader for half of a key ACC matchup. After all, the Tigers really did beat up on South Carolina State last week.

All joking aside, there is a serious issue at play here. More serious than swearing at coeds while mimicking a YouTube clip, more serious than stealing crab legs, more serious than anything Winston has ever done. As deeply flawed as he is, “Famous Jameis” has been consistently enabled and supported by the Florida State football program, its boosters and, by extension, the university itself.

We don’t know if Jameis Winston raped a Florida State freshman in December 2012. As Walt Bogdanich laid out in his excellent New York Times piece from last April, that’s not because of any lack of evidence. The victim in the case identified Winston as her attacker and has not backed away from that claim. Mysteriously — or, if you’re a cynic like me, not mysteriously at all — law enforcement did a remarkably poor job investigating the case, which was later dropped. According to Bogdanich, “the police did not follow the obvious leads that would have quickly identified the suspect as well as witnesses, one of whom videotaped part of the sexual encounter.”

Perhaps even more concerning, university officials also failed to immediately follow up on the complaint, a possible violation of federal law.

Through all this ugliness, which has been documented before by writers better than myself, one fact remains: Jameis got away with it. He was not punished by the football team after being accused of rape, nor after his attempted theft. This week’s slap on the wrist notwithstanding, Winston will most likely head to the NFL scot-free. And that’s not his fault. Yes, his actions have been despicable, and hopefully one day justice will find him. But the fact that he’s getting away with those actions? Blame that on the institution that continues to shield him, and on the grown adults that continue to place more importance on winning football games than on the character of their players. Blame that on the men that force a young woman to pick up the pieces while her alleged rapist runs around on national TV every Saturday.

Obviously, Florida State has a Jameis Winston problem. The young man has made some terrible decisions that should never be defended. But once he gets out of the sick, supportive-to-a-fault FSU bubble, he will have to face the real world. And if I have to guess, that won’t go well. So perhaps the script needs to be flipped. Perhaps, even more tragically, Jameis Winston has a Florida State problem.

Will Hanley is a junior majoring in political science and communication. He is also the sports editor of the Daily Trojan. His column, “Sports Willustrated,” runs Thursdays.