Dom

[SDCoug]

WSU is doing a miserable job of managing this situation publicly. Comments on Instagram, for a post about Kwete from the football team are virtually all about Dom and WSU looks like shit.



Same for a separate post from WSU Pullman About 1914 field hockey.



I appreciate that the school has to be careful but silence is not helping. Someone needs to step up soon.

Maybe we can hire the LA Times to do a puff piece.

 

[froropmkr72]

WSU is doing a miserable job of managing this situation publicly. Comments on Instagram, for a post about Kwete from the football team are virtually all about Dom and WSU looks like shit.

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Same for a separate post from WSU Pullman About 1914 field hockey.

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I appreciate that the school has to be careful but silence is not helping. Someone needs to step up soon.

Maybe we can hire the LA Times to do a puff piece.

There's lawyering up and then there's the court of public opinion. Maybe he needs both.

 

[ttowncoug]

If WSU football is following this, I'd imagine that the school is doing something but not making it public. Rolo isn't going to get sideways with the school this early into his tenure.

Also Schulz and Chun are likely in support or this post wouldn't be up there.

I'd imagine we will hear someone on this soon....whether he returns to Pullman, not sure. Would you? If he does, says more about him being an man of integrity to his teammates.

 

[BraindeadCoug]

At a bare minimum WSU needs to offer a public apology and pay for the remainder of Dom’s undergraduate studies until he has his degree.

if Don wants to play football he should be allowed to play immediately at any school he chooses.

 

[BiggsCoug]

If it were me I wouldn't go back. I’d go somewhere else and finish up degree and whatever eligibility I had. I’d also sue WSU. Either make them settle out of court or make them explain to a jury why I wasnt exonerated.

 

[BiggsCoug]

If it were me I wouldn't go back. I’d go somewhere else and finish up degree and whatever eligibility I had. I’d also sue WSU. Either make them settle out of court or make them explain to a jury why I wasnt exonerated.

 

[etowncoug]

If it were me I wouldn't go back. I’d go somewhere else and finish up degree and whatever eligibility I had. I’d also sue WSU. Either make them settle out of court or make them explain to a jury why I wasnt exonerated.

This suit would go as well as Zaire Webb's. It would get dismissed before seeing a jury and wouldn't cost the school much to defend. As long as they followed correct SCB procedure, Dom has little recourse.

 

[BiggsCoug]

This suit would go as well as Zaire Webb's. It would get dismissed before seeing a jury and wouldn't cost the school much to defend. As long as they followed correct SCB procedure, Dom has little recourse.

And what does WSU really win? A reputation as a school that screws kids? League coaches dragging them to recruits and parents?

You reverse the decision. You honor his scholarship. You walk away having done the right thing.

Or you go to court and win or get a dismissal and deal with the repercussions of the optics to recruits, parents and potential minority students.

Great plan ya got there.

 

[425cougfan]

And what does WSU really win? A reputation as a school that screws kids? League coaches dragging them to recruits and parents?

You reverse the decision. You honor his scholarship. You walk away having done the right thing.

Or you go to court and win or get a dismissal and deal with the repercussions of the optics to recruits, parents and potential minority students.

Great plan ya got there.

Etown didn't offer a plan or advocate any handling. He stated that the suit would get shitcanned. I agree.

 

[etowncoug]

And what does WSU really win? A reputation as a school that screws kids? League coaches dragging them to recruits and parents?

You reverse the decision. You honor his scholarship. You walk away having done the right thing.

Or you go to court and win or get a dismissal and deal with the repercussions of the optics to recruits, parents and potential minority students.

Great plan ya got there.

Few will remember this in a year. That's the reality. I say this as someone who believes Dom to be innocent and wants him reinstated.

Zaire Webb didn't participate in the shoplifting of Anthony White Jr. Charges against him were dismissed. He was still booted. His lawsuit got laughed out of court. He went through much less of a process to get kicked out than Silvels did.

You complaint isn't against WSU, it's against the Department of Educations guidelines. Any law suit would better be directed their.

 

[BiggsCoug]

Few will remember this in a year. That's the reality. I say this as someone who believes Dom to be innocent and wants him reinstated.

Zaire Webb didn't participate in the shoplifting of Anthony White Jr. Charges against him were dismissed. He was still booted. His lawsuit got laughed out of court. He went through much less of a process to get kicked out than Silvels did.

You complaint isn't against WSU, it's against the Department of Educations guidelines. Any law suit would better be directed their.

Shoplifting doesnt leave the internet tattoo that sexual assault does. And if you are guilt of sexual assault, deservedly so. If you are not, how do you claim your good name back???

The last thing WSU needs is an attorney on espn talking about his client being innocent but WSU refusing to exonerate him.

What happens when WSU refuses to exonerate him and protestors show up at the presidents house demanding action?

Maybe few will remember this in a year. But for those that do, is this issue really something you want used against you in recruiting? Cause every school in the league will.

 

[earldacoug]

The student conduct board should be nothing more than an advisory vote. It should not have power to kick anyone out of school or off of a sports team. Students having their college careers ruined like this is sickening to me. It’s time the SCB be reeled in.

 

[gpcoug]

The problem is you can't wait for due process anymore. They didn't have much choice but to kick him off the team/out of school. Hindsight is 20/20. Until now if he had not been removed from the team and school headlines on every sports network and website would have read "WSU football player accused of rape, allowed to continue playing." WSU would have been crapped on for an entire year and the press would have been horrible. It sucks but I don't see how the school had any other choice unfortunately.

 

[AncientCoug]

The problem is you can't wait for due process anymore. They didn't have much choice but to kick him off the team/out of school. Hindsight is 20/20. Until now if he had not been removed from the team and school headlines on every sports network and website would have read "WSU football player accused of rape, allowed to continue playing." WSU would have been crapped on for an entire year and the press would have been horrible. It sucks but I don't see how the school had any other choice unfortunately.

You always have the choice to do the right thing vs the wrong one. In my opinion it’s just plain cowardly to kick a kid out of school and tarnish his reputation for life because you are afraid you might get some bad press. I really hope there is more to the story but if it is as has been stated, it doesn’t reflect well on WSU or our legal system. In fact it’s kind of damning.

 

[gpcoug]

You always have the choice to do the right thing vs the wrong one. In my opinion it’s just plain cowardly to kick a kid out of school and tarnish his reputation for life because you are afraid you might get some bad press. I really hope there is more to the story but if it is as has been stated, it doesn’t reflect well on WSU or our legal system. In fact it’s kind of damning.

I understand what you are saying, but it would take the whole university and football team with it. It isn't just WSU, accused = guilty at this point in the US. Even if something turns out not to be true that's not what anyone remembers. Look at the Mike Leach situation for example. Most of the nation still believes he locked a kid in a shed. Then imagine it turns out it was true, then the school/football team are toast.

I am all for re-instating him, but just allowing him to play would not have flown. Again I don't agree with it, but you can't do nothing without causing major problems.

 

[AncientCoug]

I understand what you are saying, but it would take the whole university and football team with it. It isn't just WSU, accused = guilty at this point in the US. Even if something turns out not to be true that's not what anyone remembers. Look at the Mike Leach situation for example. Most of the nation still believes he locked a kid in a shed. Then imagine it turns out it was true, then the school/football team are toast.

I am all for re-instating him, but just allowing him to play would not have flown. Again I don't agree with it, but you can't do nothing without causing major problems.

At some point, people and institutions have to stand up and face the blowback or nothing will ever change. I just can’t buy that there is any valid excuse for railroading someone based on nothing more than an email. Again, I don’t know all the facts of this case. I’m just responding to what others have stated to be the facts.

 

[79COUG]

At some point, people and institutions have to stand up and face the blowback or nothing will ever change. I just can’t buy that there is any valid excuse for railroading someone based on nothing more than an email. Again, I don’t know all the facts of this case. I’m just responding to what others have stated to be the facts.

Perhaps if even half of the 10,000 or so people that have signed the petition were to send Schultz and Chun an email regarding this, something MIGHT happen then.
PresidentsOffice@wsu.edu
AthleticDirector@wsu.edu

 

[etowncoug]

The student conduct board should be nothing more than an advisory vote. It should not have power to kick anyone out of school or off of a sports team. Students having their college careers ruined like this is sickening to me. It’s time the SCB be reeled in.

Few who have looked into this issue disagree with you. SCB's are a good way to ensure politically motivated outcomes.

Here is the unfortunate truth. The people behind the title IX guidance buy into the myth 1/4 of women are sexually assaulted and only 2% of allegations are false. This has led them to believe any woman claiming to be sexually assaulted is telling the truth and shouldn't need to endure the discomfort of having her story subjected to any skepticism. Any process where the accused is assumed to be guilty unless they prove their innocence beyond a reasonable doubt is an unfair process. However, we live in clown world where we've decided a presumption of innocence makes for an unfair process. This problem is bigger than WSU and any university taking federal money has the same issues we do.

Secondly, the school did nothing to damage Dom's reputation. No one commented on the allegations made against him. No reason was given for his dismissal. We only know what happened to him because someone posted alleged text messages from the accuser to Twitter. They are under no obligation to exonerate him. I do hope they reverse the decision based on new evidence but it's unclear if the school even has an avenue for such an appeal.

If you want to get yourself sued, make a special exception for a student athlete that wouldn't be available for another student. You open yourselves up to lawsuits you would actually lose.

What happened to Dom could happen to any male college student if a spiteful female decides to report allegations of sexual assault. This woman never went to the police, just called the school because she was mad. These situations are a feature, not a bug, of the current guidance. Hopefully these cases garner enough attention for things to change.

 

[425cougfan]

I suspect (and recall this being the case when the Barber saga was ongoing), but haven't been able to confirm, that many universities either have student conduct boards or similar kangaroo court-style proceedings for handling these matters, and we usually don't hear about it. I doubt it's just a WSU issue.

I believe the comments from GPcoug and Etown are spot-on. It's not that anyone here doesn't want justice to prevail in Dom's case or doesn't think he absolutely got screwed (quite the contrary -- I want his scholie reinstated right now and for him to be on campus, if he chooses), but (i) you either allow proper legal proceedings with proper rules for evidence and competent / trained arbiters of fact and rules/law or you don't, and (ii) if the school didn't do anything about these allegations, it probably would wind up on Deadspin and spun as WSU trying to act like a football factory that doesn't care if its athletes are out raping people. Remember that at the time of the kangaroo court proceeding, she hadn't recanted her allegations.

The situation is total BS but you have to remember the broader situation and the facts in play at the time. Etown's post immediately above this one explains the situation perfectly.