I could give a rat’s ass about football games. I do care about sexual assault. Society is pretty screwed up if they give weight to the former over the latter.
From a legal standpoint this raises fascinating issues of due process when a student is accused of a something that is a serous crime. The issue of the degree required is undecided in the courts as of now. It should be understood that universities will be loathe to compare athletes to employees who face different standards. . Just ask Northwestern!
It won’t just be Minn alums who will be angry. I’m pretty sure B1G conference pools all bowl revenue, so all the schools will get less if a B1G team gives up a bowl game. Big loss in travel expenses as not just the 120 players travel, but the band, cheerleaders, coaches and staff, university officials are all booked too.
" “We got no answers to our questions about why these kids were suspended when they were just found [innocent] by the law,” Wolitarsky said."
The players were not found “innocent” by the law as there were never any charges and/or arrests … yet. This doesn’t mean there won’t be in the future. If the football team is determined to boycott, then more power to them. But I hope they understand the possible ramifications of their actions. These activists could very well lose their scholarships over an incident that could end up being proven as true.
“I could give a rat’s ass about football games. I do care about sexual assault. Society is pretty screwed up if they give weight to the former over the latter”
I don’t care about football. I do care about sexual assault. But I also care about due process at public universities. As should everyone.
The police have three videos showing the victim “lucid, alert, somewhat playful, and fully conscious at the time” of the incident. How are they going to arrest anyone given that evidence?
It seems to me there are two issues here. The initial encounter, and the alleged gang rape that followed.
There’s video of her with the first man – and it appears to back up that man’s claim that the encounter was consensual.
But what about the woman’s claim that there were 4-5 other men who took turns afterwards, despite her objections? Is there physical evidence it happened? And is there any evidence it was consensual?
Just for the record, I think hiring strippers is despicable. I think going to strip clubs is despicable.
I am aware that many do not agree.
As to this case, it is unclear from the information available whether the exculpatory evidence applies to all of the 5, or just to the first guy.
@doschicos & @maya54, your priorities are clearly in the right order. I bring up the deep pocketed alums as these are the people who can and will put a great deal of pressure on the UofM hierarchy. Generally speaking, money from a Big Ten football program funds all other sports so the stakes are a bit higher here than they were in the LAX case. In the big picture, it just adds another powerful constituency to the situation.
Wait, the players were just suspended from the TEAM, right? Not from the university?
Even at a public school, it’s not clear to me that the right to due process would be the same for access to one’s education vs. access to this extracurricular activity. (I am aware that major-conference football is pre-professional for some of these players, but legally, it’s an extracurricular activity.) Don’t the coaches have discretion to suspend players for stuff like being late to practice or mouthing off? There’s no requirement of due process there.
@Hanna - You are correct, they were suspended from the team - I believe one of the issues is that 4 of the players were suspended for 3 games in October and those same 4 players (along with 6 other players) are being suspended again for the bowl game. The football team players want an answer why, but they wont get one because of privacy laws for college students records.
I hadn’t focused on the fact that all that has happened so far is suspending them from the team for the one game remaining this season. No one has a constitutional right to play in a bowl game, and it’s ludicrous to suggest that due process applies at this stage.
The article says, however, that the university’s EOAA office has recommended that four of them be expelled and the other six suspended from the university for a year. There may not be a final decision on that for a few weeks, and the team will lose substantial leverage once its season ends. I still think they are doing the wrong thing, but their tactical judgment is right on.
The money from the B1G will be the same, as it is a revenue sharing conference for TV. If Minnesota didn’t host games, it would lose game day income (which is a lot) but that will never happen. They will be playing football next year.
This is another title IX abuse. Apparently one of the 10 players was not even at the party where the rape occurred. Universities need to take some risks and stop listening to the out of control bureaucrats in the federal government. These type of abuses need to be left to police departments who are equipped to handle them.
The only thing grotesque about this case is the girl hasn’t been expelled for making false statements to the police.
He may have lied to the investigators or something similar. I wouldn’t assume anyone is completely innocent in this incident at this point.
What none of you have mentioned so far is that the second man in the video was the underage recruit.
http://m.startribune.com/underage-gopher-football-recruit-involved-in-alleged-sexual-misconduct/407140326/
I don’t think there is a question that a school’s Title IX investigation can find fault even if no crime was charged or found to have been committed. The school can have other standards. At some schools students can be expelled for drinking, having sex, violating curfew. The issue may be whether all students are treated the same way. Are all students expelled for these actions or just athletes? Was the girl also engaged in some forbidden activities and should she be expelled too? Was there ‘post activity’ activity that also would be a Title IX violation, like bullying, spreading the videos? More than just the original 4 or 5 could have been involved.
My big issue is with the lack of procedure with Title IX boards of inquiry. Procedures should be more uniform, rules of evidence established, right to representation clear to the accused, and most of all the board should be made up of competent people, not just he prof from music who agreed to serve or the assistant to the coach who wants to be more involved. Even the university president may not be free from bias or the best person for the job. Set a date, hold a hearing. Don’t keep everyone in limbo.
Not all of the 10 players are accused of sexual assault, there were also apparently threats made to girl etc to get her to back down. They could be part of that.
cheddarcheesemn-- that is interesting
“The players’ attorney, Hutton, attempted to argue that the woman was the one who raped the recruit, since his age makes him a juvenile under Minnesota’s statutory rape law.”
I am not sure if it is correct because of this "That law makes it a crime if “the complainant is at least 16 but less than 18 years of age and the actor is more than 48 months older than the complainant and in a position of authority over the complainant.”
but hopefully if applicable the DA will not sweep this under the rug and this women will face statutory rape charges . wow this case gets real interesting and given the seriousness of that charge hopefully the university will remove her from all university property until this is resolved. as always many things are never black and white and this is one more reason school bureaucrats with an agenda need to leave the law to law enforcement and stick to being universities.
when this is all said and done she could be in jail the university could be sued as well as many of the bureaucrats and administrators who ruined these players lives.
it takes a lot of courage for these players to make a united stand to protect the rights of other players! they could very easily loose their scholarships and for a few a shot at the NFL and while I dislike sports…particularly sports involving violence and I really think sports teams have no connection to college and sports should not be part of college…wrong is wrong and these players in this case are doing right!