Wolverines In Trouble?

[jalopy]

The Brandon Gibbons story at Michigan seems to be gaining some traction:

U.S. Department of Education looking into Michigan Wolverines' response to 2009 r*pe allegations - ESPN

The investigations centers on whether Michigan Football (and university) officials acted properly. The allegation is: "... that the university failed to promptly and equitably respond to complaints, reports and/or incidents of sexual violence of which it had notice, and, as a result, students were subjected to a sexually hostile environment."

I will say that Ann Arbor police did investigate this issue and no charges were filed. I am an alum and contributor to the university and have talked to people who are usually have pretty reliable information. I basically got nothing out of them when I inquired. Either there is nothing there or lips are sealed. I have no idea which but the story isn't going away.

 

[jalopy]

I'm not sure if this is a Brady Hoke thing or David Brandon (AD) issue but neither was at the school when the original incident (supposedly) occurred. I do now that Hoke didn't help matter when he referred to Gibbons' dismissal in December as a "family matter".

 

[SFNL]

tag. you're it.

 

[757Hokie83]

tag. you're it.

I shouldn't laugh at a situation like this, but I just did

 

[SFNL]

I've been enjoying the JoeBots going after Desmond Howard on twitter of late.

Funny how he has little to say about the Michigan situation but was more than candid on the PSU one.

Not that I think anything in this is funny and I hope that none of this is true, but Desmond looks like a real clown right now.

 

[Brasky]

Howard is beyond obnoxious

 

[TexasExes98]

B1G quickly becoming "The Conference of Sanctions"......

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

controlled burn? Good idea. May be the first I've seen on the hoop.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

tag. you're it.

I shouldn't laugh at a situation like this, but I just did

Didn't get it at first

Now I do, lol

 

[Shanemansj13]

tag. you're it.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

I've been enjoying the JoeBots going after Desmond Howard on twitter of late.

Funny how he has little to say about the Michigan situation but was more than candid on the PSU one.

Not that I think anything in this is funny and I hope that none of this is true, but Desmond looks like a real clown right now.

Let's be honest here, the two things are on opposite ends of the criminal spectrum; especially because Gibbons was never charged with anything. This is not a 10+ year coverup of a convicted child ******er. Honestly, I'm not sure what this investigation is about because since Gibbons was not charged, they really had no obligation to do anything. In this case, he was expelled only because he was accused of something illegal.

From what I've seen, I don't think anyone can make an informed opinion on the subject because no one knows really what happened. And since Gibbons, nor the victim, are speaking out; I believe it will stay that way. From the "inside" information I do know, if you want to call it that, I will certainly say that this situation is not exactly as cut and dry as some people are trying to claim.

Finally, Desmond may know but this situation is protected by a lot of real laws and I'm sure he doesn't want to get caught up in a lawsuit by leaking information he may know.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

I'm not sure if this is a Brady Hoke thing or David Brandon (AD) issue but neither was at the school when the original incident (supposedly) occurred. I do now that Hoke didn't help matter when he referred to Gibbons' dismissal in December as a "family matter".

I honestly don't have a problem with what Hoke did. He didn't let Gibbons play when things truly got serious and it was technically a "family matter" and that's that. And as you said, neither Hoke or Brandon were here when the original incident may or may not have occurred.

 

[jalopy]

I honestly don't have a problem with what Hoke did. He didn't let Gibbons play when things truly got serious and it was technically a "family matter" and that's that. And as you said, neither Hoke or Brandon were here when the original incident may or may not have occurred.

MAIZE, I'm not saying the house is on fire but there sure seems to be a lot of smoke. I agree that this appears completely different than the JoePa situation. Milder even than the Jameis situation. I do wish that after the PSU stuff that the university would have been more open. As I said, my suspicion was only aroused by the "no comments" I got from lifelong friends.
I would like to know why the feds are looking into this because it does seem benign, especially with the subject (victim) refusing to speak on the subject.

 

[MarkOU]

Well this is not good.

You are not poised to play for a national title. You currently don't have a player who is about to win the Heisman.

Yeah, Michigan is screwed!

 

[Brasky]

B1G quickly becoming "The Conference of Sanctions"......

You're quickly becoming the poster of annoying fuck who should DIAF and shut the fuck up.

 

[SFNL]

Let's be honest here, the two things are on opposite ends of the criminal spectrum; especially because Gibbons was never charged with anything. This is not a 10+ year coverup of a convicted child ******er. Honestly, I'm not sure what this investigation is about because since Gibbons was not charged, they really had no obligation to do anything. In this case, he was expelled only because he was accused of something illegal.

From what I've seen, I don't think anyone can make an informed opinion on the subject because no one knows really what happened. And since Gibbons, nor the victim, are speaking out; I believe it will stay that way. From the "inside" information I do know, if you want to call it that, I will certainly say that this situation is not exactly as cut and dry as some people are trying to claim.

Finally, Desmond may know but this situation is protected by a lot of real laws and I'm sure he doesn't want to get caught up in a lawsuit by leaking information he may know.

I'll start by saying that I definitely feel for the Michigan peeps and I'm not going to dance around celebrating this situation. Its terrible for all involved. I'm not comparing the individual crimes that are in play here, just simply saying that there are a lot of similarities (police & DA's not filing charges ect, current players, students being punished ect)...

Desmond was applauding Emmert for the NCAA's handling of picking apart PSU's admin (which might be founded) but I'm guessing he won't be as excited about the NCAA's rulings on the lack of Michigan's institutional control & the almost guaranteed declaration that there was an issue with Michigan's culture. If he isn't happy with that, he almost certainly won't be happy when some sort of hammer comes down (if it does). Thing with Desmond is he won't stay consistent with the beliefs that he had during the PSU investigation but he should since he's already thrown his hat in the ring.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

I'll start by saying that I definitely feel for the Michigan peeps and I'm not going to dance around celebrating this situation. Its terrible for all involved. I'm not comparing the individual crimes that are in play here, just simply saying that there are a lot of similarities (police & DA's not filing charges ect, current players, students being punished ect)...

Desmond was applauding Emmert for the NCAA's handling of picking apart PSU's admin (which might be founded) but I'm guessing he won't be as excited about the NCAA's rulings on the lack of Michigan's institutional control & the almost guaranteed declaration that there was an issue with Michigan's culture. If he isn't happy with that, he almost certainly won't be happy when some sort of hammer comes down (if it does). Thing with Desmond is he won't stay consistent with the beliefs that he had during the PSU investigation but he should since he's already thrown his hat in the ring.

The fact is, there is no official crime here. For whatever reason the "victim" of the alleged incident did not continue with the charges. If you don't continue with the charges, then there is no crime. The DA couldn't continue because the victim did not want to continue. You can't charge a person of r*pe with basically no evidence against them. The victim is 99% of the evidence. If the DA didn't charge him for some other reason, that's a matter between the feds/state and the DA and has nothing to do with the university.

Once again, if Gibbons was convicted of a crime and we played him, covered it up and waited four years -- then sure, the NCAA should get involved. But that's not what happened. The underlying problem with all of this is that everyone is assuming Gibbons is guilty of a crime, when in reality we all have no way of knowing. Hell, the victim could have continued with the accusation and Gibbons could have been found not guilty.

The underlying major difference between the UM and PSU situations is that PSU knew about crimes being committed and directly brushed those under the rug -- then allowed it to continue. In the Michigan situation, a player was accused of a crime, not convicted, continued to play and was only kicked out of school when a Michigan policy change allowed students to be expelled for simply being accused of such an act. There was no UM coverup of a major crime and ironically the harshest punishment Gibbons got out of all of this was his expulsion from the University -- which actively changed policy to kick out 1 individual.

Unless some evidence comes out that suggests UM threatened the victim or paid her off not to continue with prosecuting Gibbons, then there really is nothing left to see here.

 

[jalopy]

Desmond was applauding Emmert for the NCAA's handling of picking apart PSU's admin (which might be founded) but I'm guessing he won't be as excited about the NCAA's rulings on the lack of Michigan's institutional control & the almost guaranteed declaration that there was an issue with Michigan's culture. If he isn't happy with that, he almost certainly won't be happy when some sort of hammer comes down (if it does). Thing with Desmond is he won't stay consistent with the beliefs that he had during the PSU investigation but he should since he's already thrown his hat in the ring.

I'm surprised you see so many similarities with PSU. Where do you see evidence of lack of institutional control? Where is the serial rapist that used authority to prey on underage (or any) victim. For that matter, where is the victim and why did she say anything to anyone about the alleged crime? Was their a r*pe kit? Do you even have an indication of why or what the feds are investigating? Where is the larger-than-life campus figure that was above the law? Bo is the only person that could come close to fitting that bill and he passed away in 2006.

No, to me this seems like a much milder case than FSU just experienced with Winston. The big exception seems the lack of any physical evidence. As in the FSU case, the Michigan case was handled largely by the local police. Was their inappropriate influence by the university or athletic staff? That is what we will find out with this investigation.

As for Desmond, of course he is going to defend his university with no evidence of wrongdoing. PSU players and coaches were defending JoePa despite overwhelming evidence of long-term, systemic abuse of power.

This seems more like stuff that happens on campus all to frequently. It seems like a man took advantage of a woman because of his physical size. The woman is embarrassed to come forward because she knows it is a he said-she said situation. If Gibbons is guilty, I think you should lock him up and throw away the key. I have children too. The only thing the University seems guilty of is poor decision-making about how to exert student rights. Michigan isn't going to risk it's reputation and ethics for a star football player, let alone a punter.

 

[jalopy]

Here is a good summary of the timeline of the case. A r*pe kit was performed. Gibbons claimed consensual sex. Woman originally claimed r*pe and then refused to talk to police so the case was dropped. Unfortunately, this case seems similar to those that occur on any campus. As far as I or anyone else on these boards knows, personnel at the University of Michigan were not involved in any way. The only other reference to someone associated with the football team is Taylor Lewan supposedly shooting his mouth off to the victim's friends.

Brendan Gibbons case time line | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

 

[SFNL]

I'm not going to claim to know any of the facts in this case & while reading up on it, I pretty much agree that not much is there to make this an actual case.

That said, good luck in continuing to avoid the media on this because if they do finally sink their teeth into it, it will spin totally out of control.