Star Tribune story with little detail at best about allegations of U football players

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per the STrib:

University of Minnesota football players have been accused of sexual assault, sexual harassment and retaliation in the past academic year, but those allegations did not result in criminal charges, a university administrator said Thursday.

Kimberly Hewitt, the school’s director of equal opportunity and affirmative action, said in a July 16 e-mail to then-Athletic Director Norwood Teague that her office had concerns regarding complaints about football players, including two reports of sexual assault “committed by individual players,” two reports of sexual harassment involving “groups of football players” and a report of retaliation of involving “a group of football players.”

The e-mail was obtained Wednesday through a records request by the Star Tribune. In an interview Thursday, Hewitt said the concerns were raised over the course of the 2014-15 academic year. She refused to be more specific, saying that doing could compromise student privacy. She declined to say how many players were involved, the number of alleged victims, where the alleged incidents occurred or any other details. No police reports were filed, a university spokesman said.

Asked if the concerns about the football team remain, Hewitt said, “I would say yes.”

http://www.startribune.com/universi...assault-harassment-and-retaliation/333075411/

Go Gophers!!
 


"We investigated one of the sexual harassment complaints and determined that one football player had violated the sexual harassment policy. We investigated the retaliation complaint and found concerning behavior by football players, but there was not evidence to substantiate that the players had violated University policy. We did not investigate the other sexual harassment complaint or either of the sexual assault concerns because the reporting students did not want to go forward with the investigation."
 

At the meeting held after she sent the e-mail, Hewitt said, she and other administrators proposed that the football team get special training on sexual harassment and assault, but did not know if that has taken place.
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Hewitt said she did not share any information about the alleged assaults, intimidation or harassment with federal civil rights investigators. She said it’s not required unless they request such information.
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Something happened, but not sure what.

Maybe some training happened, duno.

Didn't report it because didn't have to.


What?
 

something happened at some time by someone, somewhere...this is an attempt to try to stir up the pot and get a conversation going about? Go follow a real story that has real facts
 



Maximus said:
"We investigated one of the sexual harassment complaints and determined that one football player had violated the sexual harassment policy. We investigated the retaliation complaint and found concerning behavior by football players, but there was not evidence to substantiate that the players had violated University policy. We did not investigate the other sexual harassment complaint or either of the sexual assault concerns because the reporting students did not want to go forward with the investigation."
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WTF, that's not acceptable, I would hope they would be gone next year regardless of who they are or wins, any hint of intimidation is a willful act, no grey area there, planned, and executed with a purpose.
 

A wolf whistle emanated from a group of football players.
 

Have to be super careful in a PC state like Minnesota. Remember, though, that the world "assault" does not legally mean what most of us would imagine, what the word would clearly imply - could be some kind of touching, etc. No doubt in time it will be defined as an attitude, a word, or just a glance. Still, super care is required to avoid these kinds of charges.
 



Naturally, the e:mail was sent the day after Norwood's infamous retreat performance. I'm assuming O'Brien and Goetz must have a response. It's Goetz's first big test and it puts Kills, "can't fire me" comment in a different light.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Naturally, the e:mail was sent the day after Norwood's infamous retreat performance. I'm assuming O'Brien and Goetz must have a response. It's Goetz's first big test and it puts Kills, "can't fire me" comment in a different light.
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Eh. I don't blame Kill so much on this one. As much as people want to talk up that Kill is a builder of men (and it helps recruiting) his job is to win football games. He can't be with the kids 24/7. He'd only deserve some blame if he knew things were happening and ignored it.
 

What a crap/borderline slanderous article by the strib.
Tough to take anything seriously they put considering they essentially allowed Norwood to harrass their reporter and still employ a columnist who is openly prejudiced against people with epilepsy.
Come up with facts or don't print it.
 

scher215 said:
Eh. I don't blame Kill so much on this one. As much as people want to talk up that Kill is a builder of men (and it helps recruiting) his job is to win football games. He can't be with the kids 24/7. He'd only deserve some blame if he knew things were happening and ignored it.
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I'm assuming that the e:mail obtained by the Strib started a process within the athletic department. However, we don't know whether Kill was informed of the e:mail or whether any additional actions were taken. My being surprised if Kill wasn't informed doesn't mean that he was informed.
 



scher215 said:
Eh. I don't blame Kill so much on this one. As much as people want to talk up that Kill is a builder of men (and it helps recruiting) his job is to win football games. He can't be with the kids 24/7. He'd only deserve some blame if he knew things were happening and ignored it.
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I'm assuming that the e:mail obtained by the Strib started a process within the athletic department. However, we don't know whether Kill was informed of the e:mail or whether any additional actions were taken. My being surprised if Kill wasn't informed doesn't mean that he was informed.
 

This news is scrolling on ESPN networks, this is a big deal. Certainly won't help recruiting when news like this comes out. This is the second bit of news like this over the past several months and our U can't afford this kind of bad publicity.
 

jovs said:
WTF, that's not acceptable, I would hope they would be gone next year regardless of who they are or wins, any hint of intimidation is a willful act, no grey area there, planned, and executed with a purpose.
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You have absolutely no idea what happened and you want people thrown off the football team no questions asked? Here's an idea, how about we find out what happened before we snap to a judgment. The university investigated it and said it didn't break the University's policy, so I suspect that either it wasn't that bad or there isn't very much evidence.
 

HoustonTXGopher said:
This news is scrolling on ESPN networks, this is a big deal. Certainly won't help recruiting when news like this comes out. This is the second bit of news like this over the past several months and our U can't afford this kind of bad publicity.
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I'm sure Myron will have a 15 minute segment on Sportscenter to speculate endlessly on what happened and sh*t on the U.
 

HoustonTXGopher said:
This news is scrolling on ESPN networks, this is a big deal. Certainly won't help recruiting when news like this comes out. This is the second bit of news like this over the past several months and our U can't afford this kind of bad publicity.
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And yet there's not a single mention of it on their website or Twitter feed 1.5 hours after the news broke.
 

Three reporters contributed to a major scoop about.... nothing.
 


So now that kid from Henderson won't come here? \®olleyes...
 

I firmly believe that if there is something there - Kill will get rid of the player(s) whether or not they are charged. Might see someone unexpected not play much or "decide" to transfer at the end of the year.
 

Spoofin said:
I firmly believe that if there is something there - Kill will get rid of the player(s) whether or not they are charged. Might see someone unexpected not play much or "decide" to transfer at the end of the year.
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Doesn't the story say it happened last year (2014-15 school year)? Wouldn't be surprised if they already quietly dispatched of those (allegedly) involved. Don't need or want any more Daquein McNeil's on campus.
 

Seems like a very vague story. If this had any legs we would know who the players are already. Obviously it's a headache to deal with, but odds are no one will even be talking about it on Saturday. The Player(s) may not even be on the team anymore, but I am sure LNH will have an exclusive, this is like a wet dream for him
 

We are not the SEC. If there was any traction here, with the charged climate on campuses regarding such issues, the players would have been gone, notwithstanding the creep for an AD.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Doesn't the story say it happened last year (2014-15 school year)? Wouldn't be surprised if they already quietly dispatched of those (allegedly) involved. Don't need or want any more Daquein McNeil's on campus.
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Yes, you are correct.
 

bemidjigopher said:
Seems like a very vague story. If this had any legs we would know who the players are already. Obviously it's a headache to deal with, but odds are no one will even be talking about it on Saturday. The Player(s) may not even be on the team anymore, but I am sure LNH will have an exclusive, this is like a wet dream for him
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It's pretty unbelievable what a major market newspaper will run with as a headline story these days.
There's not a single specific in the entire article or email for that matter.
There's nothing, nada, zip.
Yet it's front page of their website with a picture of Kill looking concerned.
 

I'd take this very very serious if the artical gave a name or facts ...
 

After being pilloried for being oversensitive to Teague's victims, I think I have some street cred for having some concern for this kind of issue. First off, I will let you in on a secret. Many football players, at all levels, can be d*ckheads. More so than other sports, football breeds a type of bullying pack mentality that can lead to a lot of poor behaviour. That said, there is a not a college football team in the country that does not have bullies and d*ckheads and I suspect all the U of M incidents were reviewed in a fair manner.

PS There also is not an employment equity/ affirmative action director (or whatever they call them at other universities) who is not critical of the behaviour of the football team at their school (except maybe in the SEC where coach's cousin Joe-Bob is in charge of this stuff). It goes with the territory. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to have 100 alpha males on campus and have none of them ever behave poorly. As others have noted Kill seems to proactively deal with poor behaviour better than most.

PPS Given her readiness to go on the record, how much do you want to bet the open records request was a result of Hewitt leaking her concerns to the STRIB? It seems odd they would be fishing around this office unless they had heard from someone else.
 


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