No Holiday From Scandal

English: Logo for the University of Minnesota (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Once again, the University of Minnesota's athletic department is the subject of scandal involving questionable sexual behavior.  This time around, it almost cost them a bowl game appearance.

Ten players from the football team were suspended by the University for allegedly taking part in the sexual assault of a young woman at a post-game party in early September.  Neither Minneapolis police nor Hennepin County attorneys could find enough evidence to charge anyone with a crime.  But the University's Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action report--acquired by KSTP-TV in Minneapolis and published on its website -- described what happened in great and sordid detail.

Because University officials, including President Eric Kaler and athletic director Mark Coyle (who had only been hired a few months after the last AD resigned due to a sex scandal), chose to hide behind state privacy laws to avoid talking about the case, the football team decided to take matters into their own hands.  They announced a work stoppage in support of their teammates, meaning they would refuse to participate in any football-related activities unless their demands were met, which included due process for the suspended players.  That meant not playing in the Holiday Bowl football game against Washington State, scheduled for December 27 in San Diego, California.

Now why on Earth would they give up a chance to play in a nationally-televised bowl game, the University of Minnesota's first in the state of California since 1962?

Then the players started reading the EOAA report, and to check the temperature of public support.  Once they found out the details, they also discovered that support was growing colder than the below-zero temperatures.  So the team ended its work stoppage just hours before the University had to give its answer to the Holiday Bowl committee, which is that they're going west.  After all, who wants to be seen as supporting violence against women?

Football coach Tracy Claeys, whose job status is already shaky because his team had an unimpressive 8-4 record this past season and has two years left on his contract, upped the ante with his tweet about how proud he was of his players taking a stand.  What happens in San Diego will go a long way toward whether Claeys coaches next season or not.

But enough about football.  Sexual assault is a big problem not just at the University of Minnesota, but at campuses across the country as well.  Young women who came to college to earn their degrees, and to experience life away from their parents, sometimes end up getting more than they bargained for.  They have to watch their backs when it comes to every man they come into contact with.  And when the worst happens, good luck trying to get anyone to believe your story if the man has a different view of what happened.  Especially if your attacker happens to be a star athlete who's bound for the pros, and the institute of higher learning you're part of is protecting him at all costs.

In announcing the end of their work stoppage, the Minnesota football players solemnly pledged to not only demand justice for their accused colleagues, but to also take a stand to reject sexual violence against women.  Now let's win the big game!

Well, the football team came to their senses before it was too late.  When are University of Minnesota officials going to come to theirs?