Whoa. A girl at my university was raped in 1998 by one of the school’s football players. She reported it to the Office of Residence Life and the guy was banned from campus. He eventually transferred to West Virginia where he again joined the football team. This weekend that very team is returning to campus for a game. She thinks the ban should still stand. The school’s PR people won’t comment, other than to say they’ve been in touch with West Virginia. In the years since the assault, the victim has spoken about sexual assault at Freshmen Orientation and made a video that will be shown to incoming students in the future. All her work, she fears, will be jeopardized if this guy is allowed on campus this weekend.

Personally, I think if ND had any class they’d not only uphold the ban, they’d tell West Virginia that they’d rather forfeit the game than condone the actions of this guy. If he’d been a worker or a professor, there’d be no issue here. It’s only because he’s a football player (and Notre Dame has a multi-million dollar contract with NBC to broadcast home football games) that they’re even debating the issue. If ND really wants to be known as the Catholic moral force it aspires to be, they should take a hardline stance. We don’t allow criminals to play for our team, and we don’t want them coming into our community either.

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  1. ohMyGod. I just realised you went to Uni at ND and now (but not very much longer) work for ND….weirding me out man.

    PS they should keep the ban. Shouldn’t even be debating it. Is the West Virginia team a team of one man?? Don’t you have subs in that there American football of yours?

  2. That is absolutely right. Now, I am trying not to be completely one sided on this (although- who are we kidding, it seems to be one sided!) and realize the difficulty one may have in removing a player from a team or forfeiting, etc. But, I think that Martin has it right when he says that WV has way more than one player. This guy should DEF be suspended from game playing. It is little punishment for the actions that he committed.

  3. Yeah, the ND/ND thing weirded me out at first. It’s funny too, because I’ve accumulated so many T-shirts and fleeces and stuff from college that whenever I wear them here somebody inevitably asks if I’m wearing “Netdecisions-wear”. 🙂

    I can see the arguments people are going to make: “That was three years ago; how do you know he hasn’t reformed?” and “He’ll be observed by 90,000 people; it’s not like he’s going to be raping people on the sidelines.” Which is kinda why I sidestepped the issue of whether the punishment was appropriate and just attacked ND for what I see as hypocrisy. If they meant to ban him, he should be BANNED.

  4. Yeah, basically if he is banned from campus and it has not been recinded then he is banned from campus. Whatever the reason, thems the rules after all.

  5. Right, those ARE the rules. Except that somehow rules don’t seem to apply when millions of dollars get thrown into the equation. If WV get pissy and cancel, Notre Dame’s TV contract would be in jeopardy. On the other hand, considering that they don’t get to play for a national audience that often (and considering the bad publicity they might get otherwise), maybe WV would be more willing to bench this guy?

  6. If they forfeit that would make ND 2-3. A wins a win baby and they need all the help they can get!!

  7. was this guy ever charged with the crime? my understanding of university policy is that all infractions which take place on campus are handled on campus. this guy should be playing ball for the State Pen, not WV.

  8. The article never said if she pursued a criminal case or not. I hope she did, but I guess she probably didn’t.

    If WV forfeit we would get the win? I supposed, but I don’t see them doing that. I more foresee ND forfeiting, which would mean we’d probably get a loss. Which is probably why ND are reluctant to take a tough stance on this thing.

  9. i think banning the guy and allowing the rest of the team to play is the best course of action. the team shouldn’t have to suffer because of this neanderthal’s criminal behavior.

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