Abstract

To the Editor. A correction is necessary with respect to one of the articles in the Fall 1994 issue of the journal. In the article by Robert Fuentes et al., “Sentinel Effect of Drug Testing for Anabolic Steroid Abuse,” at page 228, the authors say, “…on May 2, 1994, the United States Supreme Court ruled that random drug tests violated the privacy rights of [various people] at the University of Colorado at Boulder…. The Court further stated….” No footnote is given, and thus no citation to the case. The superscripted note at the end of the previous sentence is to an article in the NCAA News, “Court Rules Against Colorado Drug Policy.” The Supreme Court of the United States decided no such thing as what the authors state. If the reference is to a denial of review, the authors should have said something like, “The Supreme Court denied review to … leaving in place a ruling that….” A denial of review is not the Supreme Court ruling anything beyond the announcement that it will not hear a case; inferences can be drawn from the denial, but that is not what happened here: a flat statement—and an erroneous one—was made. Prof. Stephen L. Wasby Dept. of Political Science SUNY at Albany Ed. The authors cite the NCAA News accurately, and the reference refers to both courts; however, the NCAA News article in question fails to make the necessary distinction that Professor Wasby correctly points out. Our thanks to Professor Wasby for his remarks.