Moorefield Examiner
This article comes not to bury the WVSSAC but, at least initially, to praise it.
The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission is an organization that quietly does a lot of good. Those who work in it will not get rich from their labors, but put in endless hours of time and effort for the love of sport, for the benefit of student-athletics, and for the perpetuation of some of West Virginia’s best community traditions.
They work with the best of intentions. That all said, the best of intentions often lead somewhere other than the best of results. Like a center in football or a game official, 99 percent of the time one knows they have done a good job if one never hears their name.
Unfortunately, this fall the name of the WVSSAC is in too many ears as they provide an object lesson in two important laws.
These laws do not appear in the federal or state code, but come from something more fundamental. They serve as guidelines that encourage objectivity and common sense.
First comes the lesson of rule of law. Aristotle first formulated the oft repeated phrase “a government of laws, not of men,” but rule of law means something more than that. The American Bar Association defines the phrase as “A system based on fair, publicized, broadly understood, and stable laws” and “a fair, robust, an accessible legal process in which rights and responsibilities based in law are evenly enforced.”
American law enshrined this concept in the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.
The WVSSAC made the point before Judge Carter Williams in a hearing in Romney last Tuesday morning that they are not a government organization – although they do, in fact and by necessity, operate hand in hand with state education officials. That said, they are a governing body of interscholastic sports and other activities.
Read more: https://hardylive.com/2024/11/18/opinion-editorial-3/