NCAA whitepaper - UM should seek REVIEW of NCAA's sanctions

[UMGriz75]

The problem is, Engstrom may not have read and understood the "agreement." ....

He hadn't read and understood the DOJ Settlement Agreement.

Did he even read the NCAA "settlement?"

This has what to do with the NCAA?

I will spell it out for you. An important agreement such as the DOJ agreement did not merit enough attention from His Majesty that he would even read it; but he signed it.

Then he was surprised to learn later of the requirement to report names of students and faculty to the DOJ. So much for that ol' privacy thing. And what was the DOJ going to do with the names, anyway? Turn them over to the IRS?

It is becoming a characteristic of this Main Hall regime to just agree to anything, no matter what, and not know or understand the consequences for itself or others. Engstrom did not know what was in the DOJ agreement. Does he actually know what is in the NCAA agreement?

 

[cclarkblues]

The problem is, Engstrom may not have read and understood the "agreement." ....

He hadn't read and understood the DOJ Settlement Agreement.

Did he even read the NCAA "settlement?"

This has what to do with the NCAA?

I will spell it out for you. An important agreement such as the DOJ agreement did not merit enough attention from His Majesty that he would even read it; but he signed it.

Then he was surprised to learn later of the requirement to report names of students and faculty to the DOJ. So much for that ol' privacy thing. And what was the DOJ going to do with the names, anyway? Turn them over to the IRS?

It is becoming a characteristic of this Main Hall regime to just agree to anything, no matter what, and not know or understand the consequences for itself or others. Engstrom did not know what was in the DOJ agreement. Does he actually know what is in the NCAA agreement?

No different than Obamacare.

 

[AllWeatherFan]

So you're telling me that the NCAA agreement has resulted in the lowest percentage of uninsured Americans since 2008? I'll be damned!

 

[cclarkblues]

So you're telling me that the NCAA agreement has resulted in the lowest percentage of uninsured Americans since 2008? I'll be damned!

You're a LOT smarter than that AWF.

 

[UMGriz75]

So you're telling me that the NCAA agreement has resulted in the lowest percentage of uninsured Americans since 2008? I'll be damned!

Engstrom is going to take the whole country down!

 

[GrizLA]

So you're telling me that the NCAA agreement has resulted in the lowest percentage of uninsured Americans since 2008? I'll be damned!

Engstrom is going to take the whole country down!

Attica! Attica!

 

[putter]

Maybe we should get a large number of Griz fans and invade the Bobcat Spring Game this year as NCAA president Mark Emmert is the featured speaker. Bobcat fans may not like it but we could protest across the street....

 

[ranco]

The problem is, Engstrom may not have read and understood the "agreement."

"U. of Montana President Didn’t Know Names of Students Who Miss Sexual Harassment Training Would Be Sent to DOJ"

"University of Montana students and professors are uneasy with the climate of self-censorship that is already developing following the university’s resolution agreement with the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Education (ED), reports the UM student newspaper, Montana Kaimin.

"Reporter Ashley Nerbovig captures several perspectives on problematic aspects of the resolution agreement and UM’s new policies, including provisions (PDF) requiring that the school send DOJ the names of students and professors who do not complete training sessions on sexual harassment and assault. The article contains a particularly startling piece of information concerning President Royce Engstrom:

[President Engstrom] said on Thursday that he hadn’t realized there was a possibility of student’s names being sent to the DOJ, but that he is not involved in all the nuances of the document.

"That seems like a pretty big oversight. The resolution agreement plainly states:

[T]he University will provide [the United States with] the date and duration of each student training session required by this Agreement; … and a list of any students who have yet to participate in the online or in-person training required by Section VIII.D."

http://www.thefire.org/u-of-montana-president-didnt-know-names-of-students-who-miss-sexual-harassment-training-would-be-sent-to-doj/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;\

He hadn't read and understood the DOJ Settlement Agreement.

Did he even read the NCAA "settlement?"

I knew Engstrom was incompetent based on the firings but this raises it to yet another level. He is an embarrassment.

 

[BITB]

Time to promote the petition! Please sign it, send it to supporters, promote the cause.

Let's increase the volume to remind these folks (who have enough time to attend the Final 4 events and other high priority matters) that this issue will not fade.

Actions matter.

 

[Grisly Fan]

The problem is, Engstrom may not have read and understood the "agreement."

"U. of Montana President Didn’t Know Names of Students Who Miss Sexual Harassment Training Would Be Sent to DOJ"

"University of Montana students and professors are uneasy with the climate of self-censorship that is already developing following the university’s resolution agreement with the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Education (ED), reports the UM student newspaper, Montana Kaimin.

"Reporter Ashley Nerbovig captures several perspectives on problematic aspects of the resolution agreement and UM’s new policies, including provisions (PDF) requiring that the school send DOJ the names of students and professors who do not complete training sessions on sexual harassment and assault. The article contains a particularly startling piece of information concerning President Royce Engstrom:

[President Engstrom] said on Thursday that he hadn’t realized there was a possibility of student’s names being sent to the DOJ, but that he is not involved in all the nuances of the document.

"That seems like a pretty big oversight. The resolution agreement plainly states:

[T]he University will provide [the United States with] the date and duration of each student training session required by this Agreement; … and a list of any students who have yet to participate in the online or in-person training required by Section VIII.D."

http://www.thefire.org/u-of-montana-president-didnt-know-names-of-students-who-miss-sexual-harassment-training-would-be-sent-to-doj/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;\

He hadn't read and understood the DOJ Settlement Agreement.

Did he even read the NCAA "settlement?"

This has what to do with the NCAA? You can't hardly register for the current semester without completing the 10 minute course let alone following semesters making it rather moot. Maybe professors should spend more time teaching and students more time studying rather than throwing red herring at main hall

Isn't this just a bit ironic? Some of what got the UM into this mess is the lack of awareness of some rather esoteric and at the least somewhat arbitrary NCAA rules. Yet here you have the President of the U unaware of significant provisions of a legal document he signed... Perhaps he delegated the responsibility of vetting its contents to attorneys and his reports. If so then it is at the very least poor role modeling. How would he react to someone in his charge who admits that they are similarly ignorant of something they signed? I am guessing (hoping) "oh well" wouldn't cut it. He needs to meet a higher standard.

 

[Gaeilge1]

I am still wondering exactly what the NCAA investigation did during the 18 months of the investigation. As has been confirmed and commented on in several previous threads the University did everything. In chronological order, ( I am specifically removing the rape allegations from this analysis because none were ever proven in court. There was never a conviction of anyone on any of those charges. Beau Donaldson pled guilty to the charges against him.):

1) The University identifies several infractions of NCAA rules and reports them to the NCAA. The vast majority of these infractions are minor. The University continues an internal investigation to determine how best to address the infractions.

2) Once indentified the University takes steps and implements policies to correct all of the infractions in line with NCAA guidelines. These include policies to correct the reported hostile environment against women in the Athletic Department.

3) Once implemented the University reports to the NCAA on the corrective policies.

4) The University completes its internal investigation and the NCAA accepts the recommendations the University provides on the corrective actions that have been implemented.

5) The University, after consulting with a supposed expert in such matters, recommends the sanctions it feels should be imposed for the violations it has admitted to!

6) The NCAA accepts the sanctions as proposed without modification.

7) The NCAA issues its final report confirming the violations but not coming up with anything that was not reported in the first place, recommending the corrective actions already implemented and agreeing to the University's proposed sanctions including the loss of scholarships.

So what is it that the NCAA did?

I am not aware of any other investigations conducted by the NCAA into violations by member institutions where the institution under investigation was as cooperative as UM appears to have been. I have been told by very good authority that once a member school recommends its own punishment it's a done deal! The NCAA invariably adopts the sanctions proposed by the institution and closes its book on the matter. Kind of reminds one of the old Bill Cosby comedy bit where his Dad tells the son to go out and bring the Dad something to beat the son with. The son then goes out an rips up a tree and says Here you go Dad, have at me!

While I applaud the effort and support the petition, the above analysis suggests that the present Administration will do very little with it. They seem content with what has transpired. Maybe there is a way to bypass Main Hall and take the petition directly to the NCAA. I don't know what that would be, but I am skeptical that this will go anywhere if we rely on this Administration for its support.

 

[PlayerRep]

Part of the problem is that UM did not self-report most of the transgressions. The ncaa received an anonymous tip (which many believe came at least indirectly from the athletic department) regarding the taser incident, and most of what was developed came out of the ncaa's investigation. Yes, the university cooperated.

In addition to the fact that UM volunteered too many sanctions, there are some new developments. Sanctions of other schools, like SW La, were announced after UM's--and their transgressions seem to be way bigger, longer, and involved more ineligible athletes, yet fewer sanctions. The landscape of college athletics, including football, is continuing to change--and its clear that the ncaa is about to allow the Big 5 conferences to provide more benefits to football/basketball players. So the Big 5 can provide more benefits and spending money, and perhaps allow some money to be made--and other schools have to limit home-cooked meals and little things? Also not that UM's transgressions didn't involve any academic problems, recruiting problems, or agent problems. Those are bigger problems than home-cooked meals and minor benefits from so-called boosters. UM's were unknown "boosters" (not big ones or big donors) providing too many home-cooked meals, use of a washing machine, and some little things; a player mom in effect loaning a player's grandpa $320 for a week for a bail bond (the interest rate on that loan would be about 30 cents); a law firm being deemed to have provided a modest amount of free legal services when it was analyzing and setting up a civil contingency fee case (which would be the common practice in MT); and an athletic dept. employee providing too many in-home meals and some clothes-washing to a player who was struggling a bit due to the loss of a parent.