Every few years, some outrageous news from the world of college sports reminds us of how badly the present system serves the players, the schools and the communities that hope for something better from their academic neighbors. The latest horror story comes from Katie Hnida, formerly a place-kicker for the University of Colorado. Ms. Hnida told Sports Illustrated that she had been bullied and sexually harassed during her time on the Colorado team and that she had been raped by one of her teammates.

The response to her charges by Colorado's football coach, Gary Barnett, was breathtakingly dumb. Asked if he understood why she left the team in 1999, the coach said: "It was obvious Katie was not very good. She was awful. You know what guys do? They respect your ability. You can be 90 years old, but if you can go out and play, they'll respect you. Katie was not only a girl, she was terrible. O.K.? There's no other way to say it."

There were and are, of course, plenty of other ways to say it. Mr. Barnett could have expressed dismay. He could have offered an apology. He could have started an inquiry. He will have plenty of time to consider all the decent things he might have said or done, now that Elizabeth Hoffman, the university's president, has put him on paid leave, pending an investigation.

Suspending Mr. Barnett is only the first and most obvious item on Ms. Hoffman's to-do list. This cannot be treated as a simple public relations problem, a coach's gaffe. For starters, as promised, she has to clean up the university's mess of a football program. The independent committee she has established to investigate Mr. Barnett's comments has also been told to look at an alarmingly long list of other allegations about how the football program has been conducted on Boulder's campus in recent years. These allegations include more charges of rape and of recruiting parties featuring alcohol and sex, strippers and escort services. At the end of the day, assuming the evidence is there, Ms. Hoffman should be ready to fire Coach Barnett and anyone else who is contributing to this destructive culture.

Beyond rehabilitating the football program, however, lies a larger responsibility: redefining the relationship between the athletic department and the university. This is not just about the university's cleaning up the athletic department. It is also about the university's taking responsibility for the athletic department. How did the university allow this to happen? This question is the responsibility of Ms. Hoffman and her trustees as much as it is Mr. Barnett's.

If she faces this responsibility squarely, Ms. Hoffman may up end up setting a fine example for universities elsewhere. What really makes the Colorado story so compelling, as most insiders know, is that it's not a singular case. Around the country, football and basketball franchises at too many big-time schools operate on a parallel track, far beyond the usual campus rules and academic requirements. This separate jock world has its own financial structure, which helps underwrite other sports. But it also creates a world in which athletes do not have to meet high academic standards and are allowed, too often, to live by their own moral codes.

Occasionally, the National Collegiate Athletic Association or the local authorities vow to clean up the athletic subculture. But just like the three-card monte players who reappear on the sidewalks once the cops are gone, the boosters and recruiters and other abusers of the system show up with their limos and private planes and women and alcohol, and whatever else it takes to get a athlete to sign up. Clearly, it's time for the N.C.A.A. to come around again. It's also time for the people who run the universities to take charge.