UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN STUDENTS TO STAGE STREET PROTEST AGAINST BRENDAN GIBBONS CASE TODAY

The University of Michigan Student Union has announced plans to protest publicly against the UM administration over its handling of the Brendan Gibbons Rape Scandal. A street march on campus is scheduled to begin today at 2:00 p.m.

This news comes to us from the Michigan Daily, the student newspaper that broke the Gibbons expulsion story using copies of official documents as proof. The newspaper has since been denied access to formal university proceedings, apparently as retribution to publicizing the bad news about Michigan.

The UM Student Union sent a letter describing its intentions and reasoning to the Michigan Daily that was published on Sunday. The group is explicitly outraged what appears to have been a massive four-year-long cover-up designed to protect the eligibility of a varsity football player:

"The administration owes us some answers regarding its response to student outrage over the revelation of Gibbons expulsion. All of us deserve to feel safe on this campus, and the response of top-level administrators to this situation has left many in our community convinced there is no institutional justice. This makes our campus feel unsafe and prone to abuse. This has to be addressed.

"At the very least, it looks like Hoke created an alibi to cover up the expulsion rather than simply decline to comment. It looks to the public like Gibbons was receiving special treatment because of his status as a football player. It looks like Hoke does not have to follow policy. These implications are chilling. They suggest we are on a campus where it is acceptable for certain people to commit acts of violence with impunity and protection. How could anyone feel safe knowing that? The University has made great strides in addressing cases of sexual assault and we do not want to move backward. We don’t want lies like this to have a chilling effect."

You can read the full letter from the student group right here. We will provide updates and background to this story all day on this web site.




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