getgrizzy said:
i think what he means by the big picture is that "its the football culture, stupid." a school appears to have a bad culture when law firms are representing athletes pro bono, when the v.p. is at the law offices with the players, when the v.p. tries to change the wording of statements to make them not sound as bad as they actually are, when the coach doesn't tell the higher-ups that players are being investigated for gang rape, when the coach tells the media a player being investigated for rape is a high character individual, when the v.p. comes off like he's suggesting retribution on a rape victim, when athl. dept. staff doesn't attend seminars or have players attend readily available classes on rape.
Counterpoint:
The law firm represents lots of people pro bono (as it is obligated to do by lawyers ethical rules), and the statement said it had done so with athletes in the past. This may have been many years ago.
Foley probably went to the law offices as part of UM's investigation of what had occurred in the incident, so that UM could determine the facts, learn about the legal situation and where it would likely go, and be able to determine what immediate disciplinary action, if any, to take.
The vp, who was the head of public relations for UM, was probably just trying to get the released information accurate. In this particular situation, it turned out that the police and the university panel determined that there was no sexual assault at all, let alone gang rape, according to newspaper articles and what has been posted on egriz. Looks like the vp was just doing his job--and was right. This part of what public relations is about.
On not telling higher-ups that players were being investigated, the investigation was already over when the coach learned of it. He received limited information. I wonder if he even knew the accuser was a student. There was no university policy requiring him to report the matter to anyone. He took his own disciplinary action against the players. As noted above, the police and the university panel determined that no sexual assault had occurred.
It is not true that the vp suggested retribution against the accuser. The vp merely asked an internal question. This is the vp's internal email, as quoted by the Missoulian: "Is it not a violation of the student code for the woman to be publicly talking about the process and providing details about the conclusion? Help me understand please." Where's the suggestion of retribution in that internal communication?
Who has said the athletic dept doesn't attend seminars on rape? I haven't noticed that.
Actually, almost the whole team attended a session on sexual assault, which had been set up for all athletes. No athlete other than football players attended the session.