LAWSUIT: UM ‘Complicit in Victimizing’ the Accused. Fball Players Sue UM Over ‘Discriminatory’ Punishment.
Nine black football players are suing the University of Minnesota for racial and gender discrimination, claiming in their lawsuit that UM discriminated against them by punishing them for what they say was consensual sex with a white female student. The complaint asserts that the males engaged in consensual sex with the female in 2016, but her mother reported it to police as a sexual assault. Although no criminal charges were filed, the university accused 10 Gophers football players of sexual misconduct after its own investigation. Five students were expelled or suspended, while the others were cleared on appeal. The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court, asserts that the university trampled the civil rights of the accused football players, all black males, during UM’s investigation into the alleged rape of a white female student The lawsuit asserts that the woman initiated the sexual encounters, and that she changed her story multiple times. The lawsuit claims that the U “willfully and maliciously” turned the players into scapegoats through a biased investigation that deprived them “of the most basic due process and equal protection rights.” “Race discrimination also played a central role,” according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit says the young men suffered “severe emotional distress and financial damage” as a result of “being falsely cast as sex offenders.” The lawsuit also says UM and top administrators, including President Eric Kaler, “were complicit in victimizing” the accused students.
twincities.com By Verges startribune.com By Lerner & Olsen
