Column: Why should VW be blamed?

Recently Volkswagen has been challenging the notion that all publicity is good publicity.

The car company was discovered to have used technological devices to evade emissions testing on 11 million of its cars. This means that many of the VW cars on the road are not as clean as Environmental Protection Agency testing assured them to be. The shock and outrage of this has been primarily targeted toward Volkswagen, which is unfortunate for a company that has historically been known for its strong brand and environmental consciousness.

Does Volkswagen truly deserve the blame? I would argue not. Just like the athletic-academic scandal uncovered at UNC signaled broader issues, this incident simply scratches the surface of a deeper problem in the car industry, not the car company itself.

Fans of UNC, myself included, argue there are most likely other universities that have not been fully honest about academics for athletes — they just haven’t been caught yet. They say there is an institutional failure when it comes to assisting athletes in balancing school with playing the sport they love. Because of this systemic issue, it is more important to focus discussion on the issue at large instead of at a singular university and the handful of involved departments.

This same argument can be made for Volkswagen. Yes, they too did not follow regulations. But could there be other car companies doing the same?

A look at the past of car emissions testing shows us that cheating is not uncommon. Some even claim the “defeat devices” Volkswagen used, which manipulate the quality of air coming out of the tailpipe during examination, are as old as emissions testing itself. Regardless of how much merit this perspective holds, it is still important to question the scope and influence of this issue.

The questions UNC has faced in the time following the Wainstein report have been: Where do we go from here? How do we make this University better?

Hopefully, these same questions will arise from Volkswagen, the general car industry and the U.S. government. How will regulations get better? How can we make our cars cleaner?

Failure and mistakes are where the best opportunities for improvement are made. Therefore, I expect Volkswagen will be just as aggressive on the improvement and change of its car models as UNC has been toward its student-athletes.

In the modern car industry, there is a plethora of ways to make better cars for customers, namely the electric vehicle market. Not only do electric cars get pollutants off the road and out of the lungs of bikers, but their fuel source can come from a mixture of wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, natural gas and coal instead of just gasoline — talk about energy independence. Volkswagen has already begun producing electric cars and could use their recent history as a reason to expand this field more.

Instead of name-calling Volkswagen, let’s wait with patience and see what their next steps are as a company and a leader of the car industry.