Minnesota players threaten bowl boycott over suspended teammates

Submitted by Leaders And Best on

Minnesota's football team is threatening a boycott of the Holiday Bowl over the suspension of 10 teammates from a sexual assault investigation. No charges were filed, but the school's Title IX committee recommended that 5 of the players be expelled and 5 receive one-year suspensions.

I thought we would eventually see players boycott a game, but I always thought it would be for a better reason.


http://www.startribune.com/gophers-football-players-plan-to-threaten-boycott-of-bowl-game/406928136/

EDIT #1: This article has the best overview of the allegations & timeline that I've seen posted:

http://www.startribune.com/gophers-football-players-plan-to-threaten-boycott-of-bowl-game/406928136/

EDIT #2: The boycott is now official. The players have made a statement with video:

http://deadspin.com/report-minnesota-football-players-plan-to-boycott-bowl-1790167029

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Gulogulo37

December 15th, 2016 at 11:30 PM ^

You're picking the side of "could still be innocent!!"

Choosing sides means choosing innocence or guilt. "Could still be innocent" is simply a fact about this case at the moment. Your objection seems to be that the protest is unwarranted because football players committed rape, which doesn't seem to be plainly evident at all here.

Hell, even the school is saying "could still be innocent"! Preponderance of the evidence only means probably guilty.

Also, not a lawyer, but I think "due process" is a specific legal term, and the due process usually thought of that goes through the legal system isn't applied in a Title IX compliance suit.

You do realize there are significant differences between the legal system and the system schools have set up, right?

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crg

December 16th, 2016 at 10:17 AM ^

You are asking the wrong question here. No one is disputing that universities have their own system of justice with separate rules and requirements from the standard legal system. The question we must ask is this: should this be allowed? Is it fair to have a double standard like this?

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Tater

December 15th, 2016 at 8:46 PM ^

In 1986, three Minnesota basketball players were accused of sexual assault.  They were kicked off the team and their careers were ruined.  The players were never found guilty of anything, but nobody "put the genie back in the bottle."  If someone is guilty, I am all for some pretty hard jail time.  

But they really need tto be found guilty before anything is done.  

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Bo4President

December 15th, 2016 at 6:48 PM ^

If your the coach you stand your ground.

Looks like no bowl game for them!

These players are on full scholarships. This is the coaches team not the players. Players don't make the rules.

I would cancel the bowl game and start crackin asses.



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Mr Miggle

December 15th, 2016 at 7:46 PM ^

He doesn't have any say in the punishments his players are protesting. He can side with their protest or discourage it. He can threaten to punish anyone who boycotts the game or just try to persuade them. He can mete out punishments up to yanking scholarships, but he needs to treat them all the same.

If the players do boycott the game, he'll probably get attacked no matter what path he chooses.

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GoBlueInNYC

December 15th, 2016 at 7:08 PM ^

The school conducted an investigation. The results of that investigation led them to decide to expell 5 students (not all 10 suspended football players were expelled, FYI). I'm not sure why you think that the process is an accusation is made, and the school makes immediate and arbitrary decisions without consulting any parties involved or weighing any evidence of any kind.

But generally speaking, the school is able to discipline students to the extent that they are students at that school, yes.

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PurpleStuff

December 15th, 2016 at 7:17 PM ^

Because schools have no particular competence in the field of sexual assault investigations, because many in academia have a strong bias about who is to be believed in these cases and what even constitutes a violation, because these investigations often provide few if any rights to the accused, and because the idea that 5 guys raped somebody and 5 more participated enough to justify some punishment, yet the cops declined to pursue the case seems fishy on its face.

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DowntownLJB

December 15th, 2016 at 7:24 PM ^

Or maybe the rape culture in this country makes it so difficult to successfully convict a rapist in this country that even where nearly everyone looking into a case believes that a crime was committed, they still don't always bring charges because it's really damn hard to get a conviction, even with great facts, great witnesses and an absolute dirtbag rapist.  

So, if you have a question of whether a code of conduct was violated, where you can use the same damning evidence without needing to rise to a legal "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard, you can actually make the person who violated another student's rights have some accountability for their actions.

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PurpleStuff

December 15th, 2016 at 7:41 PM ^

Like the Duke lacrosse team. Or that terrible frat at UVA. Or that bastard Brian Banks. I remember when everybody was high fiveing them for raping people. Good times. Your clear bias toward the accused in these kinds of cases (and let's not forget many in academia have a much broader view of what even constitutes sexual assault than most) is the reason these kinds of punitive extra-judicial bodies are so alarming.

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L'Carpetron Do…

December 16th, 2016 at 12:34 PM ^

The Duke and UVA cases I agree  were serious scandals.  But, a significant number of rapes are never reported or prosecuted each year and others are botched by our justice system.

The point he was trying to make was that  it is difficult to litigate rape cases because victims and witnesses are hesitant to come forward and sometime there is little evidence even if a crime, did in fact, occur.  

Baylor, Tennessee, Notre Dame and Florida State  all had serious rape scandals recently that were mishandled very badly, and the accused appear to have escaped justice simply because they were good at football.  And look at how long Jerry Sandusky's reign of terror lasted.  I don't know if it's necessarily fair to call it a rape culture, but there's something seriously wrong here.

College football has a serious rape problem and I don't know if the justice system or university disciplinary systems are adequately equipped to handle it.

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Leaders And Best

December 15th, 2016 at 7:02 PM ^

It's a university. And Title IX is a federal law. Just because there are no charges filed does not mean you are allowed to continue to receive the right to be a student at that university. There are policies for conduct at any university and Title IX is part of that.

The students have a right to appeal or sue the university if they feel the policies & procedures were not followed correctly, and some students have won cases like this. But the university is well within their rights to enforce their conduct code and Title IX. They have to because it is a federal law.

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Leaders And Best

December 15th, 2016 at 7:17 PM ^

If you cheat on an exam, some schools will expel you for that. You don't get charged with a crime though.

Some schools have policies on harassment. You may not get charged with a crime, but you can get suspended or expelled (this actually happened to a friend of mine).

No one is branding them a rapist, but if the school committee feels based on the evidence that they violated the conduct policy and Title IX, they have to take action. The standard for conduct at a university is higher than the court of law.

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PurpleStuff

December 15th, 2016 at 7:27 PM ^

You don't get charged with a crime because cheating on tests isn't a crime. Sexual assault is. The question is what these kids actually did and what evidence exists to substantiate they actually did it. I don't think a potentially biased university panel is the best place to determine that, and in practice it often leads to innocent guys being fucked over (and yes being kicked out of school for sexual assault brands you as a rapist) either to avoid litigation or because the people involved in decision making have an agenda that can't be questioned by the accused in any sort of open hearing.

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Leaders And Best

December 15th, 2016 at 7:40 PM ^

Professors and fellow students have accused students of cheating and plagiarism; that's usually how it works. The professor then lays out his evidence to a committee. The student defends himself. Committee makes decision. Student can appeal if ruling not in his favor.

Cheating/plagiarism is not always black and white either.

University discipline can sometimes be cold. I've seen it firsthand. If you put yourself in gray areas, sometimes it bites you--that's life. But the university has to enforce its standards for legal and ethical reasons.

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PurpleStuff

December 15th, 2016 at 7:55 PM ^

That is the crux of the issue here. That and defining the violation, which is a whole other can of worms when it comes to sexual assault (Is it possible for an intoxicated person to consent? What constitutes "intoxication", etc.). These committees are unqualified to examine this kind of evidence (Do they do DNA tests?). They are unable to gather evidence effectively (no crime techs, no subpoena power). And they are often disinclined to even pursue exculpatory evidence.

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NittanyFan

December 15th, 2016 at 8:23 PM ^

a University can certainly set up what is --- essentially --- a justice system that is parallel to our current non-University one.  

But it can still be challenged in court.  And several students have been winning these lawsuits of late.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/04/14/several-students-win-rec…

https://heatst.com/culture-wars/judge-blasts-brown-universitys-kangaroo…

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crg

December 16th, 2016 at 10:26 AM ^

True - no one is going to jail. The university is simply giving them a major black mark that will destroy many of their career opportunities and public images without proving any of the accusations in public. All this for activities that likely occurred completely apart from any form of university activity, function, or property by consenting adults (not children).

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Kewaga.

December 15th, 2016 at 7:14 PM ^

We all (almost all) agree that the culture of abuse towards woman at the hands of athletes needs to stop and be addressed more aggressively, however the premise of innocent until proven otherwise is the bedrock of our legal system.  I just would hate to have a repeat of the Duke Lacrosse Team.  

I have no simple answer as lives on both sides can be affected and ruined.    

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