There were assuredly congratulations aplenty for Brad Dieckhaus after he won the 184-pound MAC title on Sunday.

None of them should have come.

Dieckhaus was only able to compete in the MAC Championships because of a suspect decision to keep him on NIU’s wrestling team.

Rewind the tape back one year: Dieckhaus and former Huskie Mason True were arrested and charged with assault causing injury in Iowa City, Iowa. Trent James, a University of Iowa sophomore at the time, suffered from severe facial bruises and swelling from an altercation in which it was reported that Dieckhaus threw the first punch.

In layman’s terms, Dieckhaus allegedly beat the hell out of a guy, and NIU wasn’t really concerned with reprimanding him.

Both Dieckhaus and True were suspended indefinitely from the team at the time, but Dieckhaus’ competing this season sends a completely different message from what any logical athletic program would want to convey.

True was not on the team this year. According to the Johnson County Attorney’s office, he pled guilty to assault with intent to cause serious bodily injury in June 2010.

Yet Dieckhaus remains. His case has been continued several times and is still pending, and all the while Dieckhaus is allowed to compete without hesitation.

The question must be raised, whether to Athletic Director Jeff Compher or head coach Dave Grant: why?

Why let someone who has been linked to a serious physical beating of someone continue to represent your program and university? Whether or not Dieckhaus is guilty is irrelevant; his presence creates an atmosphere of apathy that is unacceptable. He was injured all of last season, but still in Iowa City that weekend, and I can see no reason for it. Especially for True, who was supposed to compete in the MAC Championships just after the incident; why put yourself in the situation?

Is athletic prowess now more of an issue than character and conduct?

This should not stand. Dieckhaus has impressed in winning the conference title; the program and university has done anything but impress in even allowing him the opportunity to do so.