Last updated on 04/01/2015
Last updated 4/1/2015
Senate Task Force on Sexual Violence Prevention: Website and Final Report.
Gottfredson and Coltrane’s handpicked “independent” review panel. Website and Final Report.
Lawsuit against Dana Altman and UO by the alleged rape victim, and the countersuit by Altman and UO against the victim. Docket and links to documents here.
Lawsuit against UO by two UO Counseling Center employees alleging UO improperly accessed the alleged rape victims counseling records. Docket and links to documents here.
(Thanks to RECAP the Law for providing a legal way to subvert the US Court’s PACER paywall, and make these documents publicly available.)
Comments with corrections, dates and links are welcome, I’ll add them in when I have time.
UO public relations has posted it’s own “detailed timeline” today. It’s not very detailed, doesn’t contain any links to any documents, and makes no effort to explain the latest, below. Mostly it’s Gottfredson throwing Randy Geller under the bus, along with a few shoves at the Eugene Police Department.
Meanwhile, Gottfredson’s Public Records Office is doing it’s usual stall and delay release of documents that might embarrass the UO administration.
Recent updates to the full timeline:
March 14: Duck athletic department blames gap in sexual violence training on faculty.
March 14: UOPD didn’t see the EPD rape investigation report until they read it on the RG website
That’s what I learned this afternoon from UOPD spokesperson Kelly McGiver. He didn’t seem happy. I was so amazed I asked him to repeat it, twice. He did:
“Chief McDermed, myself, and the chief UOPD investigator never saw a copy of the EPD investigation until the story broke in the Register Guard, and we downloaded it from the RG website.”
That would have been on May 6th? The official EPD timeline says
On April 14, the detective called the UO and told them of the DA’s determination on the case and advised them that they could get report from EPD Records or DA.
I think President Gottfredson intended to hide these allegations from the campus forever. But even from his own police? How does he expect them to do their job? How does hiding this from the UO police help “protect our students”?
On March 13: Four days after Gottfredson learned of the allegations, nearly three years after the US Office of Civil Rights issued new guidance, and nearly two years after Gottfredson became UO president, UO VPSA Robin Holmes finally submits revised changes to the UO Student conduct code that would make it consistent with the OCR guidelines: Extend it to off-campus violations, and lower the standard of proof for university discipline for sexual harassment violations to a “preponderance of the evidence”. Holmes’ letter to Senate President Paris here, more here.
DRAFT Timeline:
January 7: Coach Altman recruits Brandon Austin from Providence College.
Brandon Austin, a former top-50 national recruit from the Class of 2013, has committed to transfer from Providence to Oregon, a source told CBSSports.com on Tuesday. Austin was suspended from Providence this season. He’s a 6-foot-6 wing who never actually played for the Friars. He should be eligible at Oregon in December of next season.
Altman knew of this year-long suspension, but says he did not ask Austin, his coach, or his family what he had done to deserve it.
March 8: The Ducks defeat #3 Arizona in a home game.
March 9: President Gottfredson is informed of allegations of a gang rape of a female UO undergraduate by Duck basketball players Austin, Damyean Dotson and Dominic Artis over March 8th and 9th, taking place in two apartments that were one and four blocks from campus. The father of the student called the UOPD to report the alleged rape. It was “immediately” reported to President Gottfredson and EPD, but not put on the UO police log or, apparently, report it to the EPD. (ODE story here.) On March 13 the victim called the EPD to report the alleged rape. The EPD opened an undercover investigation March 14. President Gottfredson says he told the athletic department about this investigation, but did not give the names of the players. AD Rob Mullens and Coach Altman later say they heard rumors, but weren’t given confirmation of the names.
Here is the official EPD timeline:
- An EPD patrol officer took a report on 3/13/14.
- An EPD Violent Crimes Unit detective was assigned the case on 3/14/14. On that day, the UO called the detective, but the detective did not provide names so as not to harm the investigation. He asked UO to pause on their administrative reviews until after the criminal investigation was complete. That this is a common practice to avoid harming the investigation. The main responsibility of police is to conduct a thorough investigation that is just and fair to all parties.
- The detective kept the UO apprised of the investigation’s steps (process, not details and names) in a timely manner to allow for UO to proceed with their own requirements.
- April 8, the detective’s investigation was completed and sent to the District Attorney for review.
- Sometime around April 8, EPD informed the UO that the criminal investigation was complete and had been sent to DA for review.
- On April 14, the DA made determination in the case.
- On April 14, the detective called the UO and told them of the DA’s determination on the case and advised them that they could get report from EPD Records or DA.
March 13: In a contradiction of the above, KMTR news reported 5/12 that, according to a timeline provided them by the EPD, Gottfredson and the UO police waited 4 days, i.e. until May 13, to report the alleged gang rape to the Eugene police department.
March 13: Four days after Gottfredson learned of the allegations, nearly three years after the US Office of Civil Rights issued new guidance, and nearly two years after Gottfredson became UO president, UO VPSA Robin Holmes finally submits revised changes to the UO Student conduct code that would make it consistent with the OCR guidelines: Extend it to off-campus violations, and lower the standard of proof for university discipline for sexual harassment violations to a “preponderance of the evidence”. Holmes’ letter to Senate President Paris here, more here.
March 18: Rachel Bachman and Matt Futterman report in the WSJ that the Providence suspension was for an alleged sexual assault against a female student, with another PC basketball player, and that the Providence police are investigating the allegations.
March 19: Altman responds, telling Bachman:
the school “felt comfortable with our decision” to accept Brandon Austin as a transfer from Providence College, but that the player’s status would be reviewed after the NCAA tournament.
March 22: The Ducks lose their second NCAA tournament game, playing two of the alleged rapists. The effort earns $95K in bonuses for Coach Dana Altman, his assistants, and AD Rob Mullens.
April 2: Rumors report that new UO Chief Human Resources Officer Mark Yuran has abruptly resigned. This is confirmed on April 16. Campus rumor is that his questions about UO’s Title IX compliance were one issue.
April 9: The UO Senate votes unanimously to ask Gottfredson to conduct an open search for a new Faculty Athletics Representative, including an opportunity for public questions of the finalists by the faculty, in whose name the FAR serves. The FAR’s responsibilities include monitoring student-athlete conduct. Current FAR, Jim O’Fallon, announced his retirement in March, after an erratic 25 year term.
Gottfredson refuses the call for an open search, saying the FAR will report to him alone. He also ignores calls for a review of O’Fallon’s job performance, a question first raised by a joint faculty/administration committee in 2004. As of 5/11 Gottfredson still has not filled the FAR job, and frankly it seems unlikely any UO professor will take the job under these constraints.
April 9: The UO Senate approves an Academic Freedom policy that gives UO employees, including athletic department employees, protection from retaliation if they criticize UO policies or procedures. President Gottfredson objects to giving non-faculty employees this protection. As of May 11 he still has not signed it. At his May 9 news conference Coach Altman says he wanted to speak about the alleged rapes earlier, but Gottfredson would not let him.
April 10: The athletic department completes a report (not released until 5/13) on its efforts to provide sexual violence prevention training to athletes. They blame the UO faculty for the gaps.
April 14: The EDP tells UO that their investigation is complete. Under the Clery Act UO was required to begin its own investigation “immediately” after learning of the allegations, but certainly no later than the conclusion of the police investigation. Any UO investigation would have started with the EPD report. But despite EPD requests, UO did not even pick up a copy of the report until April 28. (April 24 in some reports.) That’s 50 days after Gottfredson knew of the alleged rape.
April 21: UO General Counsel Randy Geller tells President Gottfredson he is resigning. The campus is not told until May 5.
April 25: Deadline for basketball season tickets and donations.
IMPORTANT DATES All dates are subject to change
**April 25th**
Season ticket application deadline & half of DAF donation is due.
Priority points calculated for season ticket and single game benefits.
April 28: UO finally picks up its copy of the investigation from the EPD. (April 24 in some reports.)
April 29: UO’s official “Around the O” blog reports that UO Professor and co-founder of the UO Coalition to End Sexual Violence Jennifer Freyd (Psychology) has gone to the White House for the announcement of new Title IX rules strengthening universities sexual assault reporting and prevention efforts.
April 29: President Gottfredson suddenly announces he will not require AD Rob Mullens or other athletic department employees to meet with the UO Senate’s athletic oversight and advisory committee, the IAC. Quoting a report by IAC chair Rob Illig (Law) that was never approved by the IAC or the Senate, Gottfredson says he will establish his own “Athletics Advisory Council” and make his own appointments.
The UO Senate Executive Committee declines to cooperate with Gottfredson’s request for nominations to his AAC, until further discussion. Details and documents here.
April 30: Andrew AD Mullens and Coach Altman are finally given a copy of the EPD investigation from President Gottfredson’s office. They meet with their players that evening, and tell them that Gottfredson and Mullens have decided to dismiss them from the team. Still no public notice or statement to UO students.
May 4: Sport reporters notice Austin, Dotson, and Artis are not showing up at basketball practices, and start asking why.
May 5, 12:44 PM: Gottfredson announces Randy Geller has resigned. Geller’s statement says
Geller added that he “ suspect(s) there will be some on campus, given the nature of my work here, that may try to frame this as something other than the simple truth: it is time for me to move on to the next chapter of my professional career.”
May 5, 5:30 PM: Andrew Greif publishes the first story on the rape allegations in the Oregonian, here. His report says that the players are now suspended, and that Lane County DA Alex Gardner has concluded that the events did happen, but that he cannot win a rape case in court. While the federal Clery Act requires that UO report sexual assaults – for obvious reasons of public safety – no mention was ever made in the UOPD log and no alert to UO students was sent. Greif’s report is the first public information on these assaults. There is no suggestion that UO ever planned to report them. Coach Dana Altman was apparently in the process of trying to transfer one of the alleged rapists to another university – just as happened with Austin – when the news went public.
May 5 late PM: President Gottfredson posts a brief statement on his website, about “media reports”.
May 6: UO Police Department finally gets a copy of the EPD police investigation, but not from Gottfredson or Johnson Hall. They only got it because they read the Woolington story, and then downloaded it from the Register Guard Website.
May 8: UO faculty and students march on the Johnson Hall administration building, chanting “Survivors before sports” and asking for transparency. They don’t get any answers.
May 9, 11AM: 2 months to the day after he learned of the rape allegations, President Gottfredson makes his first public statement to the UO community, at a press conference. He says that federal privacy laws prevented him from telling the campus community about the alleged rapes, gives a confused version of the timeline, and does not address UO’s Clery Act responsibilities. He and Rob Mullens and VPSA Robin Holmes spend 12 minutes answering questions, then leave, saying they have “other obligations.”
May 9, 3PM: Coach Dana Altman holds an invitation only news conference in the Knight Arena press room for selected sports reporters. I get in with last minute permission from spokesperson Julie Brown. UO students are not allowed in, but two sneak in. One asks Altman if athletes get sexual assault and harassment training. He says they do, but that for scheduling reasons none of these three had gone through it. He also says that he does not know what the training consists of and has not taken it himself.
Upcoming events:
My understanding is that the OUS Board has authority to fire Gottfredson until July 1, at which point it becomes the UO Board’s job. I think the most likely outcome is a resignation within the next few weeks. Alternatively, the UO Board could wait until it takes authority, call a special meeting, and start off with a clean slate and a demonstration that it is in control of the situation.
May 14: The Senate’s Intercollegiate Athletics Committee will hold a public meeting at 9AM in the 4th floor Lewis Lounge of the law school, chaired by Rob Illig (Law). AD Rob Mullens and FAR Jim O’Fallon (Law emeritus), ex-officio members of the committee, have refused to attend.
May 14: The UO Senate meets at 3PM in 115 Lawrence. President Gottfredson is scheduled to talk to the faculty and answer questions. There will be many, likely followed by a motion for a vote of no confidence from the floor, which will require a 2/3 majority to come up for a vote.
May 16: The OUS board has a scheduled public meeting. Firing Gottfredson would require they amend the notice of meeting here, and probably add an executive session to discuss “a personnel matter involving a university president” to be followed by a public meeting at which Gottfredson could defend his actions, as was done with Richard Lariviere. 24 hours notice is required.
May 29: The UO Board’s committee on “Academic and Student Affairs” has a public meeting. Presumably Gottredson will have to explain what happened and how he handled it. The agenda and docket will be posted here.
June 12 and 13: The full UO Board will meet.
July 1: The UO Board gets authority to fire and hire the UO President.
Editorials and key stories:
May 6, UO Coalition to End Sexual Violence:
For too long, we have been falsely assured that the university responds swiftly and effectively to survivors. For too long, we have been told that the university “has established internal conduct processes for handling misconduct allegation.” When we raised issues about serial perpetrators, we were told that the university had no evidence about these. When we talked about institutional betrayal, we were repeatedly told by UO administrators that the people they meet with have uniformly positive experiences of the process. We are angry and bitter that this institution has betrayed our trust. When our institution is more interested in winning ball games than protecting students, that is institutional betrayal. This type of betrayal harms us all.
The UO administration has frivolously used the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act — a law intended to protect a student’s educational record — in order to defer any questions about the incident, creating a general lack of trust among the media and many faculty members.
May 9, Oregonian: The survivor: “I thought maybe this is just what happens in college”
May 10, Austin Meek in the RG: “At some point, plausible deniability ceases to be plausible.”
… It was an impressive [press conference performance] — far more impressive than the school’s dawdling and appallingly inept initial response to the original complaint, which the father of the alleged victim filed with UO police on March 9. …
For example, the UO Police Department’s March crime log contains no report of a sexual assault at a home in the 1200 block of East 22nd Avenue. Nor does it show a report of a sexual assault at an apartment complex where the UO players were alleged to have taken the victim and continued sexually assaulting her. Yet the federal Campus Security Act requires colleges and universities to report information in a timely manner about crimes on and near their campuses. Nor were UO students notified, as required by federal law, about the assault until more than a month later.
Resources:
The text of Clery Act: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/20/1092
(A) Each institution participating in any program under this subchapter and part C of subchapter I of chapter 34 of title 42, other than a foreign institution of higher education, that maintains a police or security department of any kind shall make, keep, and maintain a daily log, written in a form that can be easily understood, recording all crimes reported to such police or security department, including—
(i) the nature, date, time, and general location of each crime; and
(ii) the disposition of the complaint, if known.
The Student Press Law Center on how universities illegally use FERPA to hide info that might embarrass them, links here.
The UO Coalition to End Sexual Violence, here.
UO Public Records Office contact info and public records request log. (The log is well worth reading. Sports reporters from the NYT etc are digging deep into Gottfredson’s cover-up.)
UOPD public records request form.
Suggested questions for Gottfredson, Geller, Altman, Mullens, police: (Please add in comments).
Gottfredson, Mullens, and Altman are an embarrassment to Oregon: http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/24557087/embarrassment-at-oregon-no-longer-limited-to-three-dismissed-players
Some questions:
1. How old is this young woman?
The police report says she left the first party because she was underage. Then she went to the baskeball party, where she was given alcohol. Oregon law (ORS 471.410(2)) makes it a Class A Misdeamenor to furnish alcohol to anyone under 21.
Judging from her remarks, she seems to be just starting the U of Oregon. 50% of freshman are under 18. It is statutory rape to have sex with someone under 18, even if consensual. It is aggravated if alcohol is involved.
2. Who got the players their attorneys?
It is inconceivable that they found them in the yellow pages. If–as we might assume–it was someone in the Athletic Department, then the Athletic Department already knew of the events, the identities, etc.–and had a separate obligation to contact the U of O about it.
3. Gottfredson was obliged to tell the Athletic Department the identities and allegations under Title IX guidelines, as only then could precautions be taken–as required by the “due notice” standard. Gottfredson was also obliged to tell Affirmative Action, who were also obliged to put the Athletic Department on notice.
The timing of all this will have to be revealed in the U of O’s Clery Act summary, if it ever files it
I don’t believe the claim that 50% of freshman are under 18. Do you have a source?
“2013 Undergraduate Applications … Enrolled … Freshman … 3,881”
“Average age of freshmen … 19”
It’s not an outrageous claim.
source: http://admissions.uoregon.edu/profile.html
Average =/= median. Average being 19 tells you very little about how many students are under 18. Actually, even a median of 19 tells you nothing about how many kids are 18 versus under 18.
“…Oregon AD Rob Mullens added that “it was very clear to us that those were individuals we didn’t want representing our organization.”
That’s just it. Shouldn’t an organization have handled this sad affair in a thoughtful, ‘organized’ way? So what is the UO? Are we an institution of higher learning or higher disorganization?
“it was very clear to us that those were individuals we didn’t want representing our organization.”
Let Mullen’s immortal, ridiculously obvious words be the refrain until those wrapped up either in a corrupt conspiracy or in a coordinated campaign of intentional ignorance and ineptitude no longer represent UO.
The list of those making UO look bad (and therefore should be terminated with cause is much longer and includes all of the top admin in JH. Under qualified and over paid administration does a wonderful job once again. Thank you.
Mullens will love that phrase. From his point of view his guys handled this as they were told, while JH screwed it up royally. Then MG made him go on stage and be part of their cover-up, putting a major black mark on his image as one of the few clean ADs. The knives are out.
Is it possible that the two resignations, Yuran and, gasp, even Geller, happened because they opposed the way Gott was handling this?
Or, maybe Yuran opposed and, by April 21, Gott realized he got bad advice from Geller.
Whatever happened, it seems unlikely these were coincidences.
In the end, this is all on Gott – by his public statements, he alone knew everything and orchestrated this fiasco. We’ve seen plenty of other evidence of his inability to lead. Now so has the rest of the country.
As someone else said, this is now a true test for our new Board. At a minimum, they must take charge of any independent investigation as Gott is a central figure to be investigated.
Gott has proven to be a solid #2 at another institution who is clearly not #1 material.
Maybe Geller was afraid of being sued:
http://www.freep.com/article/20140507/NEWS06/305070140/U-M-rape-charges-lawsuit
Mullens and Altman really don’t seem to understand how deep is the shit they’re in. They could do themselves and their jobs a lot of good if each of them wrote a check to the local rape crisis center in an amount equivalent to the bonus they got for making it to the second round of the NCAA tournament. With the money they’re raking in, they would hardly miss the few K it will take to salvage their reputations.
Charities won’t take Donald Sterling’s money, and I doubt they’ll take Mullens or Altman’s either:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/30/donald-sterling-charity_n_5241582.html
Particularly since they’ve already been outed as skinflints. This would be a little too obvious:
https://uomatters.com/2013/11/athletic-department-punts-on-charitable.html
How much does UO spend on marketing/PR? Seven figures, maybe more? No matter, pretty much wasted at this point…
Yes, these top tier admin people, Gott, Mullens & Altman, have dug themselves in deep. How arrogant of Gott to announce Altman keeps his job, while students were literally writing in chalk on the sidewalk *FIRE ALTMAN*. Just like the players & teammates had plenty of time to manufacture & corroborate a unified response “we don’t remember her saying no”, the administrative people involved, had plenty of time to get their version of the story & timeline to match. If Gott neglected to inform the AD & Altman of the names, then he failed. The genie is already out of the bottle for that story, it would look even worse if they say, We were just lying, we knew the names all along, then they tie the knot in their own noose. Nothing to gain by telling the truth now, best they stick with their original story & let the chips fall where they may. I suspect prez Gott will continue to throw others under the bus– first the players (deservedly so), but yes, he has to throw their scholarships under the bus too! If pushed he may throw Altman next, but he will allow all of the others involved before he himself becomes next. I predict they will continue with Friday news dumps for any future press conferences… a strategic tactic– in hopes it is all forgotten over the weekend.
One huge issue– there should be no further selective audiences for press conferences. Students & Faculty should be able to attend any press conference about U of O issues. If not, then proceedings to dismiss those who would omit their presence, should be expedited.
* and by “dismiss”, I mean fire them.
Artis and Dotson are underage according to the police report. Both reported to ace investigator Hall that they had been drinking. He did not ask any followup questions (Do you know the legal age for drinking in Oregon) nor did he mention anywhere in his report to the DA that they had admitted to a Class B violation under subsection 4 of ORS 471.430. We don’t know the victim’s age but if she was under 21 which is very probable, she was not charged for a crime either.
“Minor In Possesion” citations for the players would have been public and in the UO or EPD police logs. Meaning Gottfredson couldn’t have continued to hide this. Hence no MIP charges, even after the investigation closed. Why did DA Alex Gardner go along with this cover-up?
Apparently UO didn’t learn anything from the Penn State/JoePa/Sandusky situation. Wondering how likely it is there are other victims out there …
You can search the EPD dispatch logs. If you search for the case number on the report release (14-04131) you get “no record found.”
Wha’s going on here is that EPD, UO and LCDA believed they would be successful in keeping this from the media. They still have not fully absorbed the fact that there is an enormous amount of evidence suggesting they intentionally did a substandard investigation and intentionally tried to hide the incident from the public. It would be interesting to obtain the cell phone records from the alleged victim. One big point of disagreement is if she intentionally chose to get in the cab with them even though she had just texted a friend who was going to pick her up. It would be interesting to interview the cab driver (Joshua Davey) and the fourth male in the cab (Richard Amati, I think) .
Also, you can search the EPD logs by incident type. There are about 20 types but no entry for “rape” or “sexual assault.”
Your president cannot justify a 2 month delay in reporting a potential gang rape of a student to campus. The press isn’t buying his excuses, but that’s just the start. Soon there will be federal investigators from Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights assigned to this.
They will want answers, and “federal privacy laws” won’t mean anything to them. They will start with the EPD. Then they will ask UO for Gottfredson’s, Geller’s, Holmes’, Daugherty’s, Mullens’, and Altman’s emails and phone logs. Then they will ask these people to provide any other relevant emails, phone bills, and texts using personal accounts. They’ll do the same with the assistant coaches and office staff.
Meanwhile the interviews will start. They will explain that their report will go easy on people who co-operate and make their job easier.
And that job will be very easy, because very soon someone will decide that they didn’t sign up for this, and that they don’t want to be the last one sticking with Gottfredson’s story.
If you want to learn a little more about the process, google “University of Montana rapes” for a recent example.
Forgotten bit of wisdom: “the process”, which institutions like to hide behind, is always a double edged sword.
The Seattle Office of the Department of Education’s Civil Right’s Division will likely lead. Their 30 page report on the University of Montana is at http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/edu/documents/montanaletter.pdf
Note that President Engstrom managed to keep his job, in part by quickly forcing out many UMT administrators, starting with the Athletic Director, the Coach, a VP, and UMT’s legal counsel.
http://missoulian.com/news/local/david-aronofsky-um-s-top-lawyer-to-retire-at-year/article_30de2348-b650-11e1-8160-001a4bcf887a.html
Comment of the week. I’d ask where to send your UOM coffee cup, except I’m guessing that’s not the way the witness protection program works.
Seriously though. You say President Engstrom kept his job. Did he ever publicly tell the faculty and community things about these alleged rapes, or your university’s responses, that were not true? Did he know about the allegations, and keep them secret? If so for how long, and for what reason?
Many of us at other Pac-12 institutions read this blog regularly as a source of information about the worst-run major university on the west coast. I must say, your administrators have outdone themselves this time. UO is profoundly ill, and has been since the Frohnmayer administration, when sound institutional values were lost. Here’s hoping for a thorough housecleaning and soul-searching.
Worst run major university on the West Coast? It isn’t even that good….
Hold on, hold on. You talk as though it’s only football in which we compete on a national stage.
You don’t know us very well then do you. For one, we’re always housecleaning. Either our administrators are really bad or we can’t be satisfied – but really who cares? Hang ’em high and bring on the search firms. At least then you can feel like you’ve “done something”.
Having a hard time getting beyond the fact that while the Academic Freedom policy was being worked upon and then voted in by the UO Senate and not immediately signed by President Gottfredson, this whole “incident” was occurring.
Q for Gottfredson: You say that FERPA prevents you from giving any details about the university’s internal investigation. Has any one at the university contacted the Department of Education to verify that releasing any of these details would, indeed, be considered a violation of FERPA? Follow up when the answer is “No.” Who advised the university that releasing these details would be a violation of FERPA and what did this person suggest the penalty for releasing the details might be?
Stupid question
So: A player gets involved in something that is brought to the attention of law enforcement – as soon as the campus knows, should they discipline, or wait until the police do their thing first? ANd how will that team/campus discipline affect the team’s post-season prospects?
Let’s see what OSU does… Ben Wetzler
Question: Did Gottfredson, Mullens, Altman, and Holmes take the sexual harassment online training we (all faculty and UO employees) were required to take by March this year?
One if the more important questions on here, I’d say. Anyone know?
Sadly, it is one of the more important questions on here. None of them are that important. Take for example “Publius” who wants to know if the kids are underage so we can at least give them a minor in possession – wow that’s important stuff. Then there’s “solidcitizen” who would like to know if the administration called the Department of Education to see if this violated FERPA. Laughable. Prop ’em up and put pitchforks in their hands Bill.
Trying to change the course of discussion by making comments about commenters is a useless exercise here. Most are aware of purposeful blog trolls … and that you be you.
Yes, in the grand scheme of things, not important. But I ask because a large number of person-hours on the part of the rank-and-file were spent taking this training, with possible reprimands for not completing it. But, yes, I am interested to know if the our leaders did indeed also take this training.
“Amazing: UO players usually go through training about sexual assault, harassment. Altman reveals that these players did not, and he does not know what that training consists of even for players who do take it.”
Altman didn’t take it per his press conference last week. Scroll back through the UOM entries until you get to this:
“3PM: Altman to talk about to press, students about assault accusations”
Make that : “3PM: Altman to talk to press, students about assault accusations”
As for the others, who knows? But if the coach didn’t feel compelled to take the course, why would his bosses?
He is talking about training the athletes (are supposed to) take. I don’t know if that is the same as the mandatory training all employees are required to take. Indeed, athletes, while they may seem like underpaid employees, as not classified as such…
Seriously? How many different kinds of “sexual assault/ harassment” training do you think there are? If he didn’t take the one his players were supposed to take, then how likely do you think it is he took the online course?
This timeline tells a different story than Gott and company trotted out during their press conference – looks scrubbed to fit the desired narrative.
For example:
“March 17: UO asks Eugene police specifically if any players should be kept back from the NCAA Tournament, or if contingency plans should be made to return them to campus. EPD advises the university to do nothing to alert the players to the investigation, to do what they normally would do regarding who plays and who doesn’t. EPD declines to reveal the names of any players.
March 18: UO contacts Eugene police again to ask if the players should travel to the tournament. EPD again advises the university not to alter their plans.”
Really? The UO asked that specific question and got that specific response? Seems to me if this was the case, they would have said this during the press conference, but they didn’t. And who made these inquiries? Gottfredson?
It all looks a little to neat.
Laura Fine-Moro is the attorney for one of the players. She also is the “pro-bono” lawyer students talk to when they need legal advice, (criminal attorney).
Looks like they got 86d from the UO too:
http://eugeneweekly.com/blog/results-uo-basketball-player-rape-investigation
Thank you for posting this timeline. As a student, it feels awful witnessing these allegations being met with doubt instead of support. It creates an environment that discourages future victims from speaking out. Brandon Austin has a YEAR LONG suspension and they accept him “without knowing” why. That is not protecting students and it’s putting sports first, which is disgusting.