Press "Enter" to skip to content

President fires Coach, Athletic Director, VP, and General Counsel over cover-up of rape allegations

Breaking news: DA indicts two players, NY Times report here, USDE Civil Rights Division invesigation here.

Oh wait, this is from the University of Montana, two years ago. Never mind.

9 Comments

  1. Mike 05/12/2014

    Just as an FYI…that whole thing at Montana turned out to be much less of a big deal than this. And the initial reaction left Montana admin in trouble from the overreaction as well. So I think maybe we should ask each of us would you have acted if we were in their (the admin) shoes. Keeping in mind their motivations, goals, etc. It’s a really hard position to be in and you’re no doubt going to get second guessed. But that’s why they get the big bucks right?

    • underemployed lawyer 05/12/2014

      No big deal? Quoting a UM admin, one of the local reporters covering the story recalled: “He said right away, yes, we’re looking into two date rapes, as he put it,” Florio said. “And then he described this possible use of Rohypnol, and multiple men, and two different women, and I think at that point I was like, that’s not exactly a date rape, Jim.” – See more at: http://mjr.jour.umt.edu/?p=1794#sthash.DU8jTNBi.dpuf

  2. ziggy 05/12/2014

    Actually, it was even less comparable than that. Not only was the quarterback found not guilty – it was told that the woman was trying to get revenge because the quarterback was going to end their relationship. In this case the university fired a good coach and may have ruined an athlete’s career because of a questionable claim. It was nothing like three athletes having group sex with an intoxicated young woman.

    • underemployed lawyer 05/12/2014

      “It was told the woman was just trying to get revenge”? Au contraire. In fact, “The problems we found at the University of Montana were real and significant,” Roy L. Austin of the Justice Department Civil Rights Division said in a statement. Federal investigation of the matter concluded UM discriminated against women students in the way they handled this and other reports of sexual assaults. UM eventually submitted to an agreement requiring the campus police force, found to have discriminated against women students, to work with an independent monitor to ensure proper responses to rape and sexual harassment allegations in the future, and ordering university officials to revise policies for responding to and investigating sexual assault allegations. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/09/university-of-montana-rape_n_3247466.html

    • ziggy 05/12/2014

      Au contraire to you, underemployed:
      “The defense argued the woman became upset and sought vengeance after Johnson got up without any cuddling and didn’t talk to her other than to say, “Well, thanks,” when she dropped him off at his house.” http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9006061/former-montana-grizzlies-quarterback-jordan-johnson-acquitted-rape
      If you want to argue the processes are flawed at both institutions, fine. But in one case the defendant was charged, removed from university activities, evidence was presented in court, and a determination of “not guilty” was rendered. And he returned to play football (though the coach wasn’t allowed to). In the other, there were no arrests, no court case, no legal decision, and no more university activities for the students. So the cases, and their respective processes, are not that similar. And you cannot accurately claim that the part you quoted is incorrect.

      • Anonymous 05/12/2014

        “The defense argued…” Yep. Sure they did.

  3. And It Keeps Coming Up 05/12/2014

    This story at MT is about to get repeated and probably uglier. Jon Krakauer is working on a book about this and has filed lots of FOI requests. Press releases and interviews he is out to explore how the U of MT processes internally worked…….and that MT is not going to come out looking very good.

  4. How is this headline anything but inflammatory? 05/12/2014

    Again? I can’t decide if this column is Joan Rivers’ Fashion Police or Entertainment Tonight. Either way…this headline isn’t news. The current story unfolding in Eugene is definitely news, but this? Not.

    • Fishwrapper 05/12/2014

      To “How is this headline…” Well, a University President fired a Coach, an AD, a VP, and a General Counsel over a university’s handling of rape allegations by some student athletes. Just the facts, ma’am (or sir) is what I see; a brief synopsis of who and what, but only enough to get the reader to continue past the headline. Simple. It’s not as though he’s alleging anything else happened, or that it’s somehow connected to the government’s keeping Elvis’ brain alive in Area 51 with alien technology…

      If you’re inflamed by that headline, that’s your problem, not UOM’s.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *