LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – One of the top quarterbacks in Division II might not play again at the college level.
David Knighton of Harding University has been suspended from school for a code of conduct violation. His father, Reggie Knighton, said the senior is being punished for allowing a female student to spend the night at his off-campus residence.
“My son is being done a great injustice,” Reggie Knighton said Wednesday.
Harding (2-8) plays its final game of the season Saturday at Arkansas Tech.
David Knighton, a member of The Associated Press Little All-America team last year, has appealed his suspension.
Harding, a private school in Searcy affiliated with the Churches of Christ, says in its student handbook that “staying overnight in a motel, hotel or any such arrangement with a member of the opposite gender will result in suspension, although explicit sexual immorality may not have been observed.”
uestion happened last weekend.
“My understanding is that this young lady, she missed a curfew and needed a place to stay. She knew she was in trouble, was probably going to be suspended or something like that,” Reggie Knighton said. “She called David and asked if she could come over there. David said, ‘Well, I’m not telling you to come over here. The door is open.”’
Reggie Knighton said the young woman came over.
“She slept on the couch, left that morning,” he said.
He said his son found out about his punishment soon after.
“They were judge, jury and God all in one,” Reggie Knighton said.
The school would not go into detail about Knighton’s situation.
“Harding has a long-standing policy of not discussing student personnel matters,” a school public relations director said in a statement. “The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) regulations prohibit us from releasing information from students’ records. Included in that information is any disclosure involving student disciplinary records, academic records or health records.”
Reggie Knighton defended his son, saying the woman’s safety could have been at risk if Knighton had turned her away.
“This decision that he made, he thought was a Christian decision – not to leave someone out in the cold,” he said.
David Knighton has thrown for 3,834 yards and 24 touchdowns this season.
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