Feds are investigating Mich's response to Gibbons incident
Just keeps getting better, doesn't it?
The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights is investigating whether the University of Michigan failed to promptly respond to an alleged 2009 rape of a student involving a football player, The Detroit News has learned.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140225/SCHOOLS/302250059#ixzz2uLykpNv4
February 25th, 2014 at 12:10 PM ^
someone is out for blood.
February 25th, 2014 at 12:13 PM ^
Doug Smith is out for blood. Both of the complaints that the feds are investigating were made by him. Gotta give the dude some credit. He's gone full V for vendetta on Michigan here. Kudos for having the balls to go up against a massive instituion.
February 25th, 2014 at 12:57 PM ^
For being a disgruntled employee with an axe to grind and a dubious case to push. I'd say he's being driven for something other than balls and deserves something other than kudos.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:07 PM ^
Like what? How is there money for him in this? And why is it so hard to believe that dismissing a potential rape was legitimately offensive to him? You don't know his life. You don't know his passions.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:27 PM ^
I believe/hope they were referring to revenge with the 'disgruntled' and 'axe to grind'.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^
Exactly I think the guy is going for revenge.
February 25th, 2014 at 3:19 PM ^
Does that bother you? Whatever his motivation, it probably led to UM determining that Gibbons had violated code worthy of expulsion. I fail to see what bad things came from Smith's crusade. So why should he be denigrated?
February 25th, 2014 at 2:27 PM ^
Say what you will about his motivations, what he's been able to do takes a whole hell of a lot more dedication than most people put into things. He's been grinding on this for a long time, and for one dude has made a good amount of progress. That's what I find impressive. Most people when going up against large entities usually acquiesce.
Side note, Arrogant Bastard beer is delicious.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:09 PM ^
well hopefully everybody will get their shit together so these cases are investigated properly
February 25th, 2014 at 12:12 PM ^
Sexual assault is a huge problem on college campuses in general. I think that it is worthwhile to investigate and see if everything was handled properly and if new policies and procedures are really whats best for boht victims and preventing future assaults.
That said, I also hope that the university is not found of any wrongdoing and that all parties that should have been culpable were, and that what I said above is true moving forward.
February 25th, 2014 at 12:22 PM ^
So a university investigation means more than a police investigation?
February 25th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^
Good. If we didn't fuck up, we'll have objective proof of that and we can forget about it.
If we did, the administration deserves the shame they'll get.
February 25th, 2014 at 12:30 PM ^
You go to box, and you feel shame.
February 25th, 2014 at 12:30 PM ^
Responding to something like this is a two-edged sword. You could very well be facing litigation from Gibbons if you kick him out without crossing all your T's. It's ugly, but it happens everywhere. I just hope the University didn't encourage the young lady not to press charges. If that were the case, the individual(s) involved would have to be terminated. And the young lady would justly have to be compensated.
February 25th, 2014 at 12:31 PM ^
Same thing was just announced at MSU. For all we know this is a general inquiry to any school who has such incidents
http://statenews.com/article/2014/02/feds-probe-msu-for-sexual-assault-…
The U.S. Department of Education revealed Monday it is investigating complaints about MSU’s handling of sexual assault accusations, a fact that university officials successfully kept quiet until now.
On Friday, university officials sent a letter via email to the MSU community announcing what they described as several new events aimed at educating students, faculty and staff about sexual assault prevention. In the letter, Paulette Granberry Russell, a senior advisor to MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon and the university’s Title IX coordinator, acknowledged “there is more that we can do to educate the MSU community on sexual violence.”
Near the bottom of the letter was a single sentence stating that the university is “collaborating” with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, or OCR, to “give members of the campus community an opportunity” to meet with representatives from the department.
But on Monday, Department of Education spokesman Jim Bradshaw told The State News the planned visit to campus is directly related to an official investigation into sexual harassment and violence complaints pending against the university.
February 25th, 2014 at 2:59 PM ^
Can't imagine why the Freep wouldn't be picking up on this angle. My guess is Staee is more likely to get into hot water here.
February 25th, 2014 at 12:32 PM ^
Everyone wanted answers for Hoke's, er, answers related to Gibbons. Now you know.
February 25th, 2014 at 12:37 PM ^
The feds are investigating half the universities in the country thanks to new politically motivated rules that have been forced through. It's doubtful anything will come of this.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:00 PM ^
This is exactly it. Easy and high profile way to make interest groups happy.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:04 PM ^
that is not happy, or no interest group at all? Curious.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:40 PM ^
February 25th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^
Title IX applies to all schools that take federal money - including loans for tuition.
February 25th, 2014 at 2:31 PM ^
What "politically motivated" rules are you talking about? The Title IX rules that require universities to more thoroughly investigate sexual assaults? Sex crimes on college campuses go horribly underreported and rarely is justice done. These are rules meant to protect young women.
I'm hoping the investigation finds Michigan did nothing wrong. But if there is probable cause to investigate allegations of a rape cover up wouldn't you want the university and law enforcement officials to look into it? I want to make sure my univesity did the right thing, unlike Notre Dame, Penn State and Missouri.
February 25th, 2014 at 12:38 PM ^
All across the country there have been stories popping up of schools not handling sexual assault cases appropriately. Due to the media attention this case got and the school's unwillingness to speak on the matter, I'm not surprised the DOE is getting involved. Hopefully the school just errs on the side of respecting student privacy and they did everything appropriately.
February 25th, 2014 at 12:46 PM ^
Only tells me one thing, the federal government is way too big.
February 25th, 2014 at 12:54 PM ^
I can tell you that OCR conducts some level of investigation on most every complaint. It typically reviews the complaint to see if it has jurisdiction over the subjet matter and the institution invovled. (Yes, this can take them 60 plus days.) OCR then sends a letter informing the instution that it is being investigated and specifies the charges that are being looked at. (This often limits the items originally listed in the complaint.) So, the fact that OCR is investigating really just reflects that a complaint was filed.
The person who filed the complaint gets a copy of the letter announcing the investigaton. It is clear that the person who filed the complaint got the letter and gave it to the press.
I caution everyone that the source of the informaiton is going to be very one-sided. For example, this letter is really just a formality that reflects nothing more that than someone filed a complaint that, on its face, is within the jurisdiction of OCR. However, the article makes it sound more serious. In fact, the typical OCR letter also states that the commencement of an investigation does not represent any finding of wrong doing. It seems odd to me that was not included in the article, and that there is no link to the letter in the article. (Unless I missed it which is possible.)
Also, the Department of Education is pretty protective of its investigations. Don't expect them to release much in way of information. The University isn't going to comment (and would likley get in trouble with the OCR if it did). Therefore, the only source of information is going to be the complainant.
February 25th, 2014 at 5:16 PM ^
The OCR's letter to Mary Sue Coleman can be found here (PDF). And it does have that wording you reference.
Please note that opening an allegation for investigation in no way implies that OCR has made a determination with regard to its merits.
February 25th, 2014 at 5:52 PM ^
Plus one to you for finding it.
That is pretty much the way OCR opens every investigation it does. The list of documents makes it clear that the OCR is going to look at whole process - not just the Gibbons situation. When that happens, they typically find something to correct. It is very possible that the Univeristy will be found to be in violation of something that has nothing to do with Gibbons. For example, it may need to revise a policy or distribute it more widely. How such a finding gets reported will be interesting.
February 25th, 2014 at 12:59 PM ^
This is a good thing. The University was clunky and stubborn is addressing the allegations, but there's no way in the world that the AD (and/or football team) would've covered up for a (then) shitty kicker when this happened. Maybe, under the cloak of "we have to talk about it now due to the investigation" they can clear any remaining details.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:02 PM ^
the correct reading.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:25 PM ^
February 25th, 2014 at 1:00 PM ^
Obviously this is a horrible situation and the fact that MSU also has an investigation does not make this any better.
I just cannot believe the program would put itself at risk for a kicker. It is strange because there were no charges filed in 2009 after an investigation. Why was this brought up again 4 years later?
This whole story does not make sense which concerns me that something is not right here. They should have kicked Gibbons out of school back when it happened or not at all if the investigation did not turn anything up.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:03 PM ^
In my opinion this will either clear things up entirely and we'll be vindicated or this could quickly turn into a combination of a PSU and OSU investigation. If they find that the case was handled improperly, it'll spearhead 2 other investigations. 1. Did AAPD cover this up for a football player (with tie backs to admin who knew the police were covering it up). While highly unlikely, it would open the door for that look. 2. did the administration cover it up.
While I personally think UM wouldn't be dumb enough to do something as stupid as cover it up, it does place me on edge. People do dumb shit all the time for no good reason to save what they consider their own ass.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:14 PM ^
But even though there have been several responsible changes to student behavior and how it's monitored on campus in the last 25 years, let's just say I'm not surprised there are still going to be a few oversights and loose ends to clean up here or there in terms of how the school monitors and manages subsequent reports of drunken behavior. I would be shocked if there was any whiff of any intentional malfeasance here by the administration, especially with a female President like MSC. Then again, after that drunken speech at the football game, perhaps MSC harkens back to the lawless, beer-soaked days of yesteryear we so thoroughly enjoyed in the 70s and 80s before a few kids snapped their necks doing beer dives down their fraternity stairs.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:10 PM ^
As a member of the Michigan family I gladly welcome the Feds to investigate Michigan's actions so as to ensure that if we did anything wrong that we don't do it again in the future.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:23 PM ^
By compelling the University to punish Gibbons, the federal government is acting as criminal law enforcement agency. They are using the University rules, which they compelled the University to establish and enforce, to convict Gibbons in a proxy court for a crime without due process. This is unconstitutional.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:51 PM ^
Those years of legal study and practice are really paying off.
February 25th, 2014 at 2:54 PM ^
Except for the fact that the federal government did not compel the university to discipline Gibbons - that was purely U of M's decision and action. And except for the fact, the government is not acting as an enforcement agency. And except for the fact Gibbons wasn't convicted in a "proxy court"...
How was Gibbons convicted? And how is expulsion from U of M a criminal punishment? This has nothing to do with due process and its not unconsitutional. It's merely an investigation. The federal government has the right to investigate if the university, which recieves federal funding, properly complied with Title IX regulations. That's it. End of story.
February 25th, 2014 at 2:55 PM ^
The federal government compelled the U to change the standards for cases like these from 'clear and convincing' to '51% sure', and the second Gibbons investigation were under the new standards. In that way, they were potentially responsible for the discipline.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:19 PM ^
We're only in trouble if Michigan kept the police off the case because Gibbons was a football player. That seems really unlikely given that:
1. Other Michigan players have gotten in trouble with the law (Darryl Stonum comes to mind) with no apparent desire or ability of the University to protect the player.
2. Brendan Gibbons had just completed his red-shirt season when he was arrested. The next year he was a God-awful 1 for 5 on field goals. He was hardly the sort of star player that an unscrupulous administration might try to protect. If Saban was our coach he would have used the rape charge as an excuse to kick him off the team.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:20 PM ^
I was just thinking to myself this morning, hm, the Gibbons thing seems to have died down. Then I clicked on the Freep and there this was, in huge letters. I will be very anxious to hear the results, and hope that, if UM did do anything wrong, the appropriate corrections will be made so it's less likely to happen again.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:28 PM ^
Gibbons was bad back then, but there's also the witness threatener, whom everyone seems to be ignoring.
This was handled very poorly by the university. I'm a bottom-line guy and the bottom line is that a sexual assaulter and a witness threatener played for Michigan for four years. Whether that was by conscious design in the face of known things, or because of things falling through the cracks with insufficient attention paid, is one of the big unknowns here. Alumni and students are owed an explanation as to how that happened.
Others here know far more about this Smith than I do, but just because a guy is a gadfly doesn't mean he's wrong. Frankly, it shouldn't have required a gadfly for closer attention to have been paid to this.
February 25th, 2014 at 1:43 PM ^
Both of you are scary people.
February 26th, 2014 at 12:40 PM ^
Sorry, I deleted my comment because I didn't follow who the person was responding to. Sorry!
February 25th, 2014 at 1:49 PM ^
February 25th, 2014 at 1:46 PM ^
February 25th, 2014 at 1:57 PM ^
This feels like a whole lot of nothing. UM has some of the smartest (and legally-educated) people in academia running it. I know everyone wants to say "Fab 5" happened, but that was with the athletic department and this is school-wide. I suspect that the DOE will find everyone followed protocol, even if some wish they had pushed harder.
February 25th, 2014 at 2:07 PM ^
Ultimately, it's a good thing. If they find that M acted appropriately, then the matter will be dispensed with once and for, and no one will be able to claim M whitewashed it. (If they find wrongdoing, well, then the school has to be accountable.) We should just hope the investigation is swift and doesn't drag on forever. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.