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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taistreetsmyhero

December 15th, 2016 at 7:34 PM ^

Yeah I just don't see how that boycott was a joke. It was justified, IMO, and very effective. If the goal of this boycott is to reverse the school's decision, not gonna happen. If it is to get rid of the school's title IX committee or its power to discipline students outside the courtroom, not gonna happen.



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LSAClassOf2000

December 15th, 2016 at 7:23 PM ^

But two sources said Thursday that the decision was made at a level higher than Claeys. The sources expected Claeys to support his team's boycott.

Now THAT would be interesting, if Claeys indeed backed the players and supported the boycott and it was the case that perhaps he was not on board at all with what went down. For a lot of compelling reasons, he should support his team, but I am more curious about the university's response.

I could see a scenario where if the team felt these players - or at least some of them  - were railroaded, that would be upsetting. Punish those who commit such acts, but the story says the investigation resulted in no arrests or charges and that the connection of at least a couple players to this was unclear. I would be interested in more information on this one honestly. 

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ATC

December 16th, 2016 at 1:01 AM ^

.....how Coyle handles this further will be intriguing compounded by its occurrence at the infancy of his AD tenure. Although, in fairness, it shouldn't be a factor contributing to the tensions in this situation, its no secret that many within the Minnesota system were upset that Beth Goethe wasn't retained which resulted in him starting on unsettled footing. Regardless if Coyle should or shouldn't issue an apology (let alone the demanded reinstatements) It's hard to imagine him doing so. What a fricken mine field to maneuver. Nevertheless, that's what he gets paid to do..... and do successfully.

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gruden

December 16th, 2016 at 10:23 AM ^

Claeys seems to be playing it both ways.  In the article it says he initially agreed with administration and dropped the hammer with the suspensions.  Then he comes back and tweets he hopes his team changes the world.  Seems to be hedging his bets here.

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Jota09

December 15th, 2016 at 7:51 PM ^

These sexual assault cases on college campuses are so frustrating from multiple viewpoints.  First, if a sexual assault occured, why is consent so hard for people to understand?  It is very sad that people can acquire the mindset that they can assault women and it is ok if they are famous or an athlete.  Second, it is frustrating the reaction that is happening at schools.  I know that the current president and his administration have made this a point of emphasis and have put extreme pressure on the schools via title IX, but there seems to be harsh punishments dealt out to students accused of assualt without much evidence.  If there is an accusation, it seems the women is believed over the man if there is a he said/she said scenario.  I read the article posted on here yesterday where one of the player's father was interviewed (he is a police officer) and he accused the school of attaching anyone who was in or around the apartment to the punishment.  That really bothers me.  I am curious to find out exactly what each player allegedly did that violated the code of conduct.  Third, is this code of conduct.  I have attended multiple colleges in Michigan and here in Georgia.  I cannot remember ever being given a code of conduct that I needed to read, I also can't remember said code of conduct ever being something that was emphasized to make sure I knew.  I am obviously not these students, so there schools may have done that, it just makes me wonder if those kids even knew what actions they could do that might violate the code.  Fourth is the chance that this might be a fraudulant claim.  There have been more than a few instances where disgruntled partners claim assault as a means of revenge.  This sadly puts even more doubt on claims that are legititmate.  I understand that these false claims are in the extreme minority, but since they happen mildly frequently, just immediately believing one party seems ill advised.  

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JBE

December 15th, 2016 at 7:56 PM ^

The school did an investigation, and deemed what they felt was proper punishment, which they have a right to do. The players protesting this looks bad, even if they fell they are right, which they probably aren't.

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The Oracle

December 15th, 2016 at 8:02 PM ^

Universities are very politically sensitive institutions. Decisions aren't always based on fairness. There was obviously no provable crime. Unless gang bangs are expressly prohibited by the code of conduct, none of us know about the details to judge fairly the players' decision to boycott.

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gruden

December 16th, 2016 at 10:27 AM ^

How can you be sure?  Why do people assume that a university administration is all-wise and not simply doing CYA?  These people are political animals by nature, it could simply be a knee-jerk reaction ("Off with their heads!") in an effort to avoid a scandal.  It's not like real people are ever steamrolled by stuff like this.

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gruden

December 16th, 2016 at 10:32 AM ^

There's a reason why it's difficult, which is that there is a standard of proof.  Sure, life is easier when you have no accountability or standards to meet. It's a lot easier when administrators can mete out punishment and satisfy some constitutent desire for retribution when the standards are low to non-existent. 

Heck, we really don't even know what evidence the University had, and I haven't come across anything that says they have to provide it (nice closed loop there).  Perhaps rational people would be appalled at how easy it is for these people to trash mens' lives.

 

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Muttley

December 15th, 2016 at 8:39 PM ^

you have to be able to hold several thoughts simultaneously. 
  • Rape exists.
  • Rape is a horrible experience.
  • Rape is, as it should be, a felony.
  • As a felony, rape should be investigated using the same standards and the same standard of proof.
  • Just as all homicide is not murder, all unwanted sexual contact… especially when it is defined down to include kissing… is not rape. Like murder, there are gradations. First degree murder is not the same as manslaughter. Being accosted and raped by a stranger is not the same as deciding after the fact that you would have rather not had sex with someone. Calling everything rape simply reduces the term to meaninglessness and has the perverse effect of making rape seem less horrific than it is.
  • Women are people. As people they are subject to the same impulses as the rest of the set of “people.” (Those would be called “men.”)
  • Contrary to what feminists claim, much more damage is done to a man’s reputation, and indeed to his life, when he his accused of rape than to a woman who reports rape.

 

          The Bogus Statistic behind the "Rape Epidemic"

 

A productive discussion/advocacy should be based on an honest depiction of the situation.  I'm going to be very skeptical of efforts that start with a 1-in-5 statistical canard1 and end with a judge, jury, and executioner system within the college.

Readers themselves should do an immediate smell test on the 1-in-5 sexually assaulted college women statistic.  Those pushing it by-and-large still send their daughters to college as usual.  Either

  • Parents of those who actually believe the 1-in-5 statistic are irresponsible sheep, or 
  • Everyone, including those pushing it, know that it's greatly inflated

 

A productive discussion/advocacy would also incorporate statistics that pass the smell test including a recently released study from the Bureau of Justice Statistics  

           Rape and Sexual Assault Among College-age Females, 1995-2013

which is nicely summarized by

        New DOJ Data On Sexual Assaults: College Students Are Actually Less Likely To Be Victimized

 ...non-students are 25 percent more likely to be victims of sexual assault than students, according to the data. And the real number of assault victims is several orders of magnitude lower than one-in-five.

The full study, which was published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, a division within DOJ, found that rather than one in five female college students becoming victims of sexual assault, the actual rate is 6.1 per 1,000 students, or 0.61 percent (instead of 1-in-5, the real number is 0.03-in-5). For non-students, the rate of sexual assault is 7.6 per 1,000 people.

...

The higher rate of victimization among non-students is important due in large part to recent accusations that U.S. colleges and universities are hotbeds of so-called “rape culture,” where sexual assault is endemic, and administrators and other students are happy to look the other way. The bogus “1 in 5″ statistic, which was the product of a highly suspect survey of only two universities and which paid respondents for their answers, has been repeatedly used as evidence of this pervasive rape culture on college campuses across the country.

Even more striking is that according to the BJS data, the likelihood of sexual assault has actually been trending downward across the board since 1997.

 

 

1For example:

“It is estimated that 1 in 5 women on college campuses has been sexually assaulted during their time there — 1 in 5.” 
–President Obama, remarks at White House, Jan. 22, 2014

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Yinka Double Dare

December 15th, 2016 at 11:26 PM ^

1 in 5 isn't just during college you intentionally lying assault-minimizing piece of garbage. People like you who so want to pretend this isn't a problem are only somewhat less of a problem than the assaulters themselves, because people like you contribute heavily to the culture that makes women who are assaulted not bother to report it. If you don't know multiple women who have been assaulted, you either aren't friends with women or they don't trust you enough to tell you. And I can certainly see why.

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Tha Stunna

December 16th, 2016 at 12:43 AM ^

Maybe you should find a source that doesn't start off with:

The second thing was that the icon of sexuality for chubby, plain girls, Lena Dunham, accused a man she barely knew of raping her in college. Both of these fit into the broad feminist narrative of the infantile female who is unable to cope in a world occupied by rapists men.

 

Bashing women for their looks and feminists in general right off the bat is hardly the way to demonstrate credibility, and you're doing your cause a disservice by relying on these types of articles.

 

Also, a survey is invalid because it pays people?  Really?  That's most surveys I remember in college, unless these people are paid by the rape accusation.  (Apparently, I missed out on some easy money.)

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