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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