On the last weekend of September, the Granite Bay High School varsity boys’ soccer team traveled to Quincy, Ill., and created a controversy.

The team, which was ranked No. 7 in the nation and No. 1 in the region going into the Illinois tournament, was rocked on their return home by the news that eight players had smoked marijuana in their hotel room and were then suspended from school for five days and from the soccer team for six weeks.

Since the suspensions went into effect, some have wondered whether the Roseville Joint Union High School District’s athletic code is too severe.

The GBHS athletes were put under suspicion when a hotel maid reported to the manager that she smelled smoke in the room. In an e-mail sent by the manager to a GBHS soccer parent, the manager noted that the maid said “it (smelled) like smoke in the bathroom, and that the ice bucket had a strange smoke-like smell.”

The maid told the manager that she “also found a plastic baggie under a pillow on the bed with some kind of remains in it.”

Information of the incident made its way to the administration through parents and e-mail. Principal Mike McGuire said administrators began interviewing the involved soccer players when they returned home from Illinois. All eight suspended players admitted smoking marijuana, McGuire said.

In the initial days after the suspensions, a few students wore T-shirts protesting what they thought was the unequal treatment of the soccer players compared to more than a dozen football players two years ago who went to a party but never admitted using drugs or alcohol.

The shirts read “Free GB Soccer Players” on the front. Students also wore stickers on which were printed the words:

“Football + drugs + alcohol = one game – soccer + drugs = six weeks?”

In 2005, almost 20 football players, plus several varsity cheerleaders, attended a Tuesday night party on the eve of the RJUHSD 184th non-student workday. The administration investigated the party, but because no one admitted using drugs or alcohol, and because the students involved were not on a school trip, no one was disciplined by the school.

However, varsity football coach Ernie Cooper suspended the players who attended the party for one game because he had told the team not to go out on the non-school night.

“(Cooper) told the kids to study, go home and don’t do anything stupid,” GBHS athletic director George Sirovy said. “The party got broken up before it even got started.”

McGuire added: “A neighbor called, reporting a noise violation. There were a bunch of kids but no evidence … of alcohol or drug use.

“The police got nothing. We got nothing.”

According to Sirovy, Cooper encouraged players who attended the party to come forward.

“Cooper did exactly what a coach should have done under those circumstances, and we did everything that the law permits us to do under (those) circumstances,” McGuire said.

The athletic code is in effect both on and off campus. The state education code, however, is not. It is a set of rules and regulations on discipline, how schools function and curriculum, but it only has minimal impact when students are off campus and not on school-related trips.

The athletic code, by comparison, applies to all students on athletic teams, and it’s in effect at all times during an athlete’s season.

“There were two things (with the soccer team),” said Cathy Raycraft, the assistant principal in charge of athletics. “They violated (the educational code) on an overnight school-sponsored trip, so they had the appropriate (school) suspension. Then they also had the training violation.”

The six-week training suspension is considered harsh by many, but Sirovy said there is support for the punishment for drug, alcohol and tobacco use by athletes.

Sirovy said the school district’s athletic directors and assistant principals in charge of athletics meet annually to discuss possible changes to the athletic code.

“We looked at (the athletic code) last spring,” Sirovy said. “We make a unanimous decision (regarding possible changes) and then present that to the school board for final approval.”

Once changed, however, the athletic code is not negotiable.

Because the athletic code explicitly outlines punishments – in the soccer team’s case, a six-week suspension for violating the ban on in-season drug use – fairness is ensured toward all sports.

Suspensions for first violations mandate a standard six-week athletic suspension. Second violations “cause the student to be ineligible for one calendar year from the date of the infraction and may include a recommendation to expel,” according to the athletic code.

“It is a district code, and as much as some students believe that this is just Granite Bay picking on eight kids, if this were to happen to Oakmont, Woodcreek or Roseville, the punishment would be the same,” Sirovy said.

The GBHS players were not prosecuted by Illinois officials, at least in part because local Illinois authorities were not informed of the situation.

Still, the athletic code suspensions could be applied despite no legal charges being filed by Illinois or California prosectors.

“The schools have a different standard for proof than police do.” McGuire said. “It’s reasonable (suspicion) versus probable (cause).”

The police must have probable cause to search or to prosecute; school officials, however, only need reasonable suspicion. As a result, administrators can use evidence against students that would not be admissible in court.

Unfortunately, the harsh suspension period – six weeks – encourages student athletes to lie.

“I think a policy that is district-wide encourages kids to lie,” McGuire said. “It encourages kids without character to lie. But kids without character are going to lie whether it’s six weeks, four weeks or one week. And kids with character, it doesn’t make any difference, because they aren’t going to lie.”

Still, coaches say athletes know the rules.

“Before the season starts, we put all the JV, freshmen and varsity football players into the theater and Cooper goes through parts of the athletic code,” said Mike Valentine, the freshman football coach. “We go through what is expected and the things that can get you into trouble.”

Football is not alone.

“At the beginning of the season, I typically talk about (the athletic code),” varsity volleyball coach Bruce Honberger said.

Despite the controversy surrounding the soccer team, McGuire said the varsity athletes who were suspended maintained their honesty and integrity by telling the truth when they were prompted.

“(The soccer players) have a great deal of character,” McGuire said, “more character than I have ever seen in students in almost my career.”