<p>A graduate student gets kicked out of Michigan for an incident that happened in 2009 when he was a freshman. In between then and now (quoting the article) he does this....</p>
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Gibbons is fourth in made field goals in Michigan history and owns the program record for consecutive successful extra points with 141.
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<p>To say this looks bad is really an understatement. I read stuff like this, and I think I must really be missing something big. What am I missing?</p>
<p>Nothing and I have a distinct feeling we’re just scratching the surface.
IF (big IF) rumors of a cover up are true, a **** storm is about to commence. As it should IMO (again, IF).
The fact that it took this long to do something about a rape is sickening but not at all surprising. I know from personal experience (not with an athlete and not with anything related the university- but my assailant was a well-known, well-liked sports coach/league official in our local community).
It’s not baffling at all. </p>
<p>And the donkeys on both sides of the MSU/Michigan thing that are slinging mud at each other over this make me sick. Obviously MSU isn’t clean of the whole rapist thing but two wrongs don’t make a right. I wish every single scumbag rapist would be brought to justice, but I’ll settle with one starting to face the consequences- no matter what stupid colors he sports. </p>
<p>ETA: Mgoblog has a good summary of the whole thing (can’t link). It can almost explain the lack of action between the rape and 2011, but not between 2011 and, conveniently, the end of the fb season. </p>
<p>While this looks bad, I don’t think that the University and the football program are not at any risk. First of all, it all happen during the Bill Martin/RichRod era. By the time Dave Brandon/Brady Hoke came on board, this case was supposedly closed. </p>
<p>Secondly, the evidence is entirely circumstantial. While the medical examiner established that there was vaginal tearing, according to the report, it could have been attributed to either rape, or to consensual drunken sex. In other words, it is her word vs his. Same with the claim that Taylor threatened her.</p>
<p>That being said, I am inclined to believe the girl. Why would she make such a story up if it weren’t true? And I think the University is aware of that because they expelled Gibbons.</p>
<p>I agree with you romanigypseyes, athletes and celebrities are afforded way too many breaks. There should be zero tolerance for such crimes. I hope the young lady who went through this ordeal has fully recovered and that Gibbons (and Taylor) are punished appropriately for their actions.</p>
<p>Alexandre: two points from the police reports</p>
<p>Besides third party eyewitnesses to intercourse itself (which rarely exist in these cases), what more evidence of a date rape could there be? Victim testimony, vaginal tearing, immediate report of incident, immediate emotional problems expressed to friends and family, indications that she was drugged, etc. Characterizing this as a he/she said case is just wrong. Basically, gibbons said she wanted it, and the invetigators ignored everything else and dropped the case - imagine if that defense always worked like that; no one would ever be charged.
Lewan’s threats came to light because two other fb players reported him, not the victim. His consequences were a request to not intimidate any other victims or witnesses, or else he would really be in trouble then. His conduct is an embarassment to the University, but nothing will happen to him.</p>
<p>Unfortunately bonard, we will never know what happened. The allegations are most likely true, but they cannot be proven. All of the evidence you point out could be attributed to factors other than rape. This whole fiasco is an embarrassment to the University. </p>
<p>If you look into the facts and circumstances here, it really isn’t that baffling. We know the timeline of events and we know why he is just now being expelled for something in 2009.</p>
<p>Also, a cover up makes no sense. As a risk vs reward there was no reason to protect the true freshman non starting kicker. </p>
<p>Finally, to be fair to Gibbons no crimal charges were filed. He is still innocent until proving guilty. This university body just determined he was more likely guilty than not, at least 50.1%. </p>
<p>Why now and not in 2011 when the interim policy was put into place?</p>
<p>Looks like either new evidence was just provided recently, or it wasn’t reported to UM until just recently. Here’s the university’s response <a href=“http://www.toledoblade.com/attachment/2014/01/30/University-of-Michigan-Statement-1.pdf”>http://www.toledoblade.com/attachment/2014/01/30/University-of-Michigan-Statement-1.pdf</a></p>
<p>I’ve read their response. It doesn’t explain why they didn’t bring it under the interim policy. What was the point of it if they weren’t going to use it?
It was reported to U of M in 09. AFAIK, there is no new evidence. </p>
<p>Today, my professor spoke to our class about getting expelled for plagiarism. Strangely enough, it took Brendan Gibbons 4 years to get expelled for rape. #TheMichiganDifference</p>
<p>Ok, I understand…in late 2013 U. Mich changes their policy to something like Preponderance of the evidence (at least 50.1%). and they are able to expel Gibbons on something he may have done several years ago.</p>
<p>Gibbons is getting vilified. Without criminal charges, and nailing him on preponderance of the evidence, I can’t pass judgement on this man one way or the other. U. Mich thought he was “likely” guilty, and they’ve basically ruined his life.</p>
<p>Whether he is guilty or not, he will likely be fighting this legally for the rest of his life. The crazy thing is he may eventually win. Since Michigan changed their policy in August and 2013, has Gibbons had time for an appeal or did he even have time to hire a lawyer? They said he officially go kicked out in late December. Is 3 or 4 months enough time for Gibbons to put up a defense?</p>
<p>Michigan better have their s&#t together here. I understand rape is hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, many rapes go unreported, and it has horrible consequences on the victim emotionally. Sometimes people are wrongly accused though. I keep thinking back to the “Duke Lacrosse” scandal. I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t think we’ve heard the end of this.</p>
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<p>No, no, no… he did that to himself and his teammates helped along by threatening his victim. </p>
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<p>Longer than most get. </p>
<p>The investigation reopened again in 2013. It concluded in December and he was expelled. The 2011 interim policy existed for a year while they were reviewing their new one that they have now. Plus, they probably were not digging up cold cases. Some new info probably came to light and the investigation was reopened. The university then decided he was at least 50.1% guilty. </p>
<p>He was not charged with any crime. Just keep that in mind. </p>
<p>Also, any talk of a cover up is absurd. When Gibbons was on the team we had university wide open tryouts for kicker! Why would the school stick their neck out like this to protect a true freshman kicker, that in his second season went 1-5 from the field. He did not turn it on until his 3rd year here. It makes absolutely no sense to cover it up.</p>
<p>It was investigated in 2009, no charges were filed. It was a dead case and then we got a new AD and coach. The burden of proof changed over time, new evidence came to light, and with our new policy they decided he was more than likely guilty. </p>
<p>Brandon Gibbons was considered a liability as a kicker earlier on in his career at Michigan. The University was not covering up for him. I think it is more likely that there was not enough evidence legally to expel him from school. </p>
<p>Like I said, Michigan better have their s&%t together on this…</p>
<p>Department of Education will investigate University’s handling of Gibbons’ sexual misconduct case
<a href=“Department of Education will investigate University's handling of Gibbons' sexual misconduct case”>http://michigandaily.com/news/office-civil-rights-investigate-university</a></p>
<p>Whether it is from the dept. of education or Gibbons’ own lawyers, their handling has been bizarre and will continue to be looked into.</p>
<p>Does it surprise me that the DoE chose to investigate this? Not at all. Whenever there are unusual circumstances, like we think exist in this case, investigation is a completely responsible course of action. FERPA and university policy forbids general public disclosure about any details from the case, so I think it’s a good thing that a third party is willing to do this. Although the investigation is the proper thing to do, I would find it extremely unlikely that they will find anything mishandled about the case. It’s a fact U-M made the sexual harassment policy WAY more strict (signficantly more so than the majority of policies at other universities) in late 2013, and from what we think we know, Gibbons was expelled very shortly thereafter. Not surprising to me at all.</p>
<p>bluebound18, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.</p>