THE BRENDAN GIBBONS CASE: HOW THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN VIOLATED FEDERAL LAW

Most Michigan fans want the Brendan Gibbons rape scandal to "just go away" so they can be done with it. Too bad, they say, it could've been handled better, let's move on. Whenever we try to talk about it, they accuse us of "not caring about the girl" in the case.

Actually, it was the University of Michigan that didn't "care about the girl", even though she was one of their own student-athletes. The public records and event timelines that have been made available through several online sources clearly show that UM tried to cover-up the problem, or at least brushed it aside for several years.

These actions are in violation of "Title IX", a federal law that governs many aspects of public institutions. Dozens of lawyers will eventually handle this case from all sides, and judges (and perhaps juries) will adjudicate it. We're not lawyers here, but we'll do the best we can to explain it for you.

Here is a brief description of the relevant clause of this federal law, as it applies to the Brendan Gibbons rape scandal:

Under Title IX, discrimination on the basis of sex can include sexual harassment, rape, and sexual assault. A college or university that receives federal funds may be held legally responsible when it knows about and ignores sexual harassment or assault in its programs or activities. The school can be held responsible in court whether the harassment is committed by a faculty member, staff, or a student. In some cases, the school must pay the victim money damages.

Here is the link to the source for this summary of the legal obligations of schools that receive federal funding. The key phrase is "knows about and ignores". Let's break that statement down to its two constituent parts and review their application to this case.


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"KNOWS ABOUT":  Did the University of Michigan "know about" this case?

There is literally no question that UM "knew about" this case within several hours of its occurrence:

• The local police arrested Gibbons before sunrise and held him in jail for questioning. The arrest was reported in local newspapers with the suspect described as "a Michigan football player".
• Extensive police records were made about the case, so many that it is inconceivable that nobody mentioned anything to anybody on campus about it. Here are the reports.
• The victim was a scholarship-athlete at UM, and it defies all reasonable belief to think that she did not tell her coach(es) about the incident. She also must have told some friends, many of whom were also students and/or athletes, and story naturally would have spread to many people in the campus community.
• The local police conducted at least one "wellness check" on the victim, with records of the interviews on public file.
• According to this source, the victim met personally with as many as two dozen university officials to report the case and pursue justice. She was told there was nothing that could be done about it. Both Gibbons and his victim were reportedly re-located to different dormitories at least once each, moves that could not have happened without Michigan knowing about the case.
• If university officials hadn't heard about this case by November 2011 (two years afterwards), they certainly heard about it at the UM Board of Regents meeting held on November 17, 2011. It was at this meeting that Douglas Smith openly exposed the case to the President of the University, identifying Gibbons by name. Here is the source. (You will have to scroll way down the screen to find the remarks by Smith.)

There are numerous other "proofs" to establish that officials at the University of Michigan knew about the case against Brendan Gibbons. The next question is whether they "ignored it".

"IGNORED IT":  Did the University of Michigan "ignore" this case?

We must remember how hard it is to "prove a negative" or to show that something is "not there". In order to do so, one must look for evidence that something "is there". The events reported in this case show UM essentially did nothing about this case.

This online source describes how UM proactively worked to protect a different student from various assaults, and asks why the university didn't work so hard to protect the victim of Brendan Gibbons.

A short-cut answer to this question is to say that Michigan ignored the case up until they stopped ignoring it and expelled Gibbons from school after his playing days were just about over. The legal question is whether the four-year delay is long enough to constitute "ignoring". Most people would describe the 200-week lag-time as "ignoring", but this is where the lawyers and judges and/or juries will play their legal role.


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Many UM apologists will claim that this whole story is just the result of an independent muckraker with an axe-to-grind and therefore has no credibility. Not according to The Bleacher Report and many other national media outlets. And more independent groups are reporting the case as well.

The smart people with their ears-to-the-ground are in position to know about this case and are trying to do something about it. I'm talking about the STUDENTS at the University of Michigan who work for the "Michigan Daily", the same group that showed the world how many UM athletes major in "General Studies" a few years ago. The official UM student group is now chasing after the adults in charge of the university who seemed to have covered-up the entire scandal. Hard to believe they will stopped short in their pursuit of justice.

And let's not forget that the case can be re-opened at any time. A recent M-Live report quotes a local police detective as telling the victim four years ago that she need only make a request to have the case re-opened. And if the charges are First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct, there is no statute-of-limitations at all, meaning she has the rest of her life to make her choice to move forward with prosecution.




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U-of-M RAPE SCANDAL MAKES THE PAGES OF SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Hard to believe its only been a few weeks since the Brendan Gibbons rape scandal hit the news. Many people are still in "reaction mode", as the Michigan Daily report was the first they heard about it at the end of last month. Quite a few of those folks are also "in denial" about the sordid affair.

Well, any claims that this is "not a real story" are officially moot points, as Sports Illustrated has taken up the coverage. Here is the Sports Illustrated article about the Michigan football player rape cover-up.

We have more coverage coming up on this web site as well, including a conclusive essay proving beyond a reasonable doubt that both David Brandon and Brady Hoke knew about the charges against Gibbons long before any penalties were imposed on him. In the meantime, here are a few other articles about this subject:

How the University of Michigan Violated Federal Law

Brendan Gibbons Could Be Formally Charged With Rape At Any Time

Doctor Smith is Banned by the Ann Arbor News

How a "Crime" Could be Committed Without a "Conviction"

Key Point in Brendan Gibbons Scandal: His Victim Can Still Press Charges

Brendan Gibbons Appears to be About as Guilty as O.J.

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HEY MICHIGAN: WHAT WAS THAT BIG "DIFFERENCE" AGAIN?

The main purpose of our work on this web site is to balance the media playing field when it comes to coverage of Michigan State and Michigan, particularly, though not exclusively, regarding sports. Most of our stories are about men's sports, but hey, when Suzy Merchant's teams out-perform their counterparts down south on such a regular basis, we'd like to help more people hear about their success.

The central problem with the University of Michigan is that they systematically brain-wash young people into thinking (and then actually believing) that they are superior to others. The main tool used by UM to do this is embodied in a marketing slogan designed to make money; "The Michigan Difference".

Those of us who didn't go there are constantly offended by the arrogant attitudes of those who did, and worse, those who didn't. The infection permeates our local cultures here in the State of Michigan. We fight the disease here on a regular basis, providing information that is overlooked and/or underreported, pointing out how "average" the U-of-M and its students actually are (in real life, not on Madison Avenue and Walmart clothing racks).

So the Brendan Gibbons rape scandal is a great case in point. (Not a great case in general, as it is sad, lurid, and so very disappointing.) According to an official process run by the University of Michigan, Gibbons committed sexual misconduct that may be legally proven to be "rape", if there is ever any legal process that plays out in this case. We're not saying that makes UM "bad", we're saying it makes them "normal", i.e., NOT DIFFERENT.

To those who have been pointing out that the Department of Education is also investigating Michigan State regarding Title IX processes related to sexual misconduct, we say, fine, that's more evidence that UM is NOT SO DIFFERENT. They're mostly the same as a lot of big universities.

Michigan is just another school to us, one of fifteen state-supported institutions, and they are increasingly known for their arrogance and hubris, not their educational programs. If the mainstream media ever adapts to this reality, and starts reporting on it accordingly, we may have no further reason to operate this communications platform.

Until then, however, we have some more information for you. It's about that so-called "Michigan Difference" claim. Here's an excerpt from a web site run by actual students at the University of Michigan:

"All these cases come down to one thing: this university does not care about you. The claims of diversity in the pamphlets it hands out to potential students is just that: empty words in a brochure that is quickly thrown into the trash and forgotten. The speeches with hollow phrases such as “Leaders and the Best” and “the Michigan Difference” are just that: self-congratulatory pomp that inflates our ego to perpetuate the illusion that we are significant, that we matter, and to cover up the reality that the university does not care about us."

Some of these same students marched in protest this week, complaining about the soft treatment given to confirmed rapist Brendan Gibbons:

"We are fed up with the violence that is being committed at the University of Michigan by those with power. Fed up with our bodies being used for the benefit of those at the top.

"Fed up with a university administration and athletic department that has violently acted for 4 years to cover up and suppress the details surrounding football player Brendan Gibbons’s rape of an 18-year old UM female student in November 2009.

"Fed up with the top administrators’ silence on Brendan Gibbons’s violent use of this woman’s body for his pleasure in order that they could continue using the body of one of UM’s athletes to bring in large profits that feed into their exorbitant salaries.

"Fed up with how the university’s promotion of a culture of immunity for those high in its hierarchy of power fosters the perpetuation of rape across campus."

You can follow the "Student Union of Michigan" on Facebook.




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BRENDAN GIBBONS APPEARS TO BE ABOUT AS "GUILTY" AS O.J. SIMPSON

It was great to see the Gibbons situation finally exposed. Now we know what happened four years ago,  before it was all swept under the carpet.

I remember the original report on MLive, perhaps the only media outlet to cover it. The first news was that "a football player" was charged with rape, and there were no follow-up stories for more than a month. Finally there was a report saying the charges had been dropped.

Most people do not remember when the incident happened in 2009. Many are just hearing about it for the first time. For those new to the story, many of the key details may be elusive to comprehend at first, as it may be a bit of a shock to hear it all in retrospect.

It appears the main defense ("excuse") people have for Gibbons is to emphasize that he has not formally been found "guilty" in a court of law. This fact is one of many fundamental aspects of the case. But the story as a whole is based on actions, not an inaction, and the key act was taken by the University of Michigan itself by expelling the alleged perpetrator. In the quasi-legal arena of public institutions, he was determined to have been "guilty" according to "the preponderance of evidence".

While the institution is not a court of law, neither are the available penalties identical. If found "guilty" in a criminal court of law, Gibbons could have been given a maximum sentence of prison time. As he was found "guilty" through the institutional disciplinary review process, he was given the maximum sentence of expulsion. Both are correct uses of the term "guilty", though used in the two different contexts.

Without question, in this case, Brendan Gibbons is GUILTY. And that's why I bring Orenthal James into it.

Most people would say they thought O.J. Simpson committed murder. But he was not convicted of it in a criminal court of law. So does that literally mean that O.J. was "not guilty"? If so, what about the successful civil actions against him later on? Was he not found "guilty" in those courts? You could say Simpson was "guilty" or "not guilty" in different contexts and be right or wrong.

Surely there are acts of brutality that occur during wartime situations that don't result in formal charges, but does the lack of formal processing mean the actions didn't happen? What about the time before people had courts, does that mean those types of actions never occurred back then since there were no charges to be filed? Women's equity advocates have long been vocal about how many of these actions do not result in formal convictions, even though they actually happened.

None of this is germaine to the story. It seems clear from the widespread media reports that Michigan Football Coach Brady Hoke knew that Gibbons had been "convicted" (internally) yet played him in the next game anyway. We now know that the comments Hoke made about a "muscle problem" and "family matters" were smokescreens at best, perhaps even a deliberate cover-up through open lying to the public.

Plus, if Hoke knew (as he must have known) then so did David Brandon. That ties them both together in the scheme, as Brandon had to be aware of the situation, even if only by hearing Hoke speak publicly on the subject of Gibbons. And presumably he did nothing about it. That makes one of them the "accessory" to the other.

There's your story. No point in debating the use of the word "guilty", as some folks won't get the idea that some words have a range of meanings. The key to this revelation is the complicit role-playing by Hoke and Brandon to protect the eligibility of Gibbons and Taylor Lewan.




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KEY POINT IN BRENDAN GIBBONS SCANDAL: HIS VICTIM CAN STILL PRESS CHARGES

One of the key points consistently overlooked in the online discussions of the Brendan Gibbons Rape case has to do with the former Michigan football player's actual legal status. Many folks new to this situation thought that since he was never convicted in a court of law, that means he was never arrested. That point was clarified yesterday.

But a lot of UM apologists also want to say "the case is closed, he was never found guilty, there's nothing here, time to move on", and so forth. I pointed out that Gibbons actually WAS FOUND GUILTY by a university discipline process, and that legally-binding judgment was based on a standard of the preponderance of evidence against Gibbons. So it's clear that there is something there (not nothing there).

The victim in this case can still press charges against Gibbons, as there is no statute-of-limitations for first-degree criminal sexual assault in the State of Michigan. The S-O-L for other degrees of CSC range from six years to ten years, depending on the severity of the crime. Here is the link, read it for yourself. If the local police recommended charges on first-degree sexual assault, and if the prosecutor wants to bring it forward, the victim has the rest of her life to move forward with prosecution.

We're hearing that the police were ready to move forward with this case in 2009, so why might the victim have decided to hold back? Plenty of normal reasons that normally apply in these cases, but in this situation, the victim may have made a logical and conscious decision to use the legal discretion allowed to her by the statute-of-limitations.

If she was advised that she had a full decade to bring legal charges, and in the meantime she could pursue justice against her attacker through a university process that would allow her to maintain a low public profile during her college career, I could see her making that choice. Could you?

Perhaps the victim was waiting for the university process to play out, while also going through college in a quasi-normal fashion, before returning to the legal stage. This appears plausible.

Gibbons could still be charged with

First Degree Sexual Assault,

and he could still be found

guilty in a court of law.
He is not legally "off the hook".

(If this were to happen, it would not be

a "muscle pull" or "family issues".)

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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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UPDATE: BRENDAN GIBBONS COULD BE FORMALLY CHARGED WITH "RAPE" AT ANY TIME IN THE FUTURE

This is to clarify the "statute-of-limitations" for First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct in the State of Michigan. I had reported last week that the S-O-L for CSC in the 1st degree was 10 years. In fact, there is no S-O-L for that crime. The original story has been updated and you can find it here.

If you don't want to check back to the original story, here is the key point:

The victim in this case can still press charges against Gibbons, as there is no statute-of-limitations for first-degree criminal sexual assault in the State of Michigan. The S-O-L for other degrees of CSC range from six years to ten years, depending on the severity of the crime. Here is the link, read it for yourself. If the local police recommended charges on first-degree sexual assault, and if the prosecutor wants to bring it forward, the victim has the rest of her life to move forward with prosecution.

This information completely debunks the claims that Gibbons has been "cleared" in any way of the charges originally made against him by the local police.



RELATED CONTENT:

Brendan Gibbons Appears To Be 

About As Guilty As OJ Simpson

The Famous "Doctor Smith" Checks In

 On M-Live Comment Thread

The Gibbons Rape Scandal:  How A "Crime" 

Could Be Committed Without A "Conviction"

"Doctor Smith" Is Banned By The Ann Arbor News

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GIBBONS EXPELLED AFTER SCORING 12 OF LAST 18 POINTS BY UM AGAINST MSU

The University in Michigan has expelled Brendan Gibbons, the Wolverine football player who was mysteriously absent from their December bowl game. Here is the original report from the Michigan Daily. Here are some other reports about it:

• The Detroit News
• The Bleacher Report
• Yahoo Sports
• Fox Sports Detroit
• The Detroit Free Press

Gibbons kicked four field goals over the last two years against Michigan State, accounting for 12 of the 18 points given up by the Spartans in the last two games. No touchdowns were scored by Michigan in those games.

Gibbons did not play in the final regular season game against Ohio STATE, and UM Coach Brady Hoke said it was due to a "muscle problem". Asked about the absence of Gibbons on the bowl trip, Hoke said the player was attending to "family business". The Detroit Free Press reports that both statements made by Hoke regarding Gibbons came after the university process had concluded and expulsion was imminent.

The expulsion is believed to be the first against any student in at least two years at Michigan.

(Interesting to note that MLive waited until just before Noon today to report this story. Every major media outlet had this story last night, but not MLive.)

RELATED STORY:

MICHIGAN FOOTBALL IS THE DIRTIEST TEAM IN AMERICA

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ANN ARBOR STREET MARCH THE RESULT OF TENSION BOILING OVER AT UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

If you keep a lid on a boiling pot of water, it will eventually explode. That appears to be what's happening at the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan.

The UM Student Union has announced a protest march today beginning at 2:00 p.m. to publicly object to the school administration for they way the Brendan Gibbons Rape Scandal was processed. Everybody seems to want answers on how such a travesty could have transpired.

Tensions have been on the rise over this case since it was first reported by the Michigan Daily that football player Brendan Gibbons was allowed to stay in school and play for the UM football team after raping a fellow student-athlete in 2009. Gibbons was arrested on suspicion of rape, but never publicly identified or charged with the crime. When his football career was almost over, he was expelled.

This is the sort of story that's long-on-looks and short-on-facts, and students are demanding answers to a range of questions. The Michigan administration has generally stonewalled the public on this case, even banning the student newspaper from attending formal media events during the last month.

But just like the pot of boiling water, you can't keep a lid on things indefinitely without creating a blow-up. People just aren't as stupid as the power-brokers want them to be.

Take at look at this article, and especially the photo*, to get a taste of what the climate has been around the UM campus recently.

This banner hangs outside a campus building at the Ann
Arbor campus of the University of Michigan last week.

*This news item was submitted by a contributor

who lives in the Chicago-Land area.

You can follow him on Twitter

@Chicago60614.

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Your Sunday "Mourning" Paper...

Click below to jump to links to media and blog posts following the Spartans final seconds loss to chUMps.

MICHIGAN FOOTBALL SUSPENDS ANOTHER PLAYER

The Michigan Football program has suffered another failure, losing another player to suspension due to illegal activity. This is at least the second such player suspension this season.

ONCE TOAST-OF-THE-TEAM, NOW JUST "TOAST"

Okay, so much for FRANK CLARK. Less than two weeks ago, he was heralded as one of the great seniors on the Michigan Football team, even helping fill-in for Brady Hoke on a television show when Hoke was unavailable. (Was Hoke on a recruiting trip?)

Now Clark is "lunch-meat", tossed aside like two-day-old bread at Panera's. Buh-bye, Frankie.

Did you notice how Hoke announced on Sunday night that he would "respect the legal process" in Clark's case, then came back Monday morning to announce that Clark has been kicked off the team? Some sign of respect. I guess that's how Hoke treats one of his many "sons".

"We are aware of the report involving Frank Clark," Hoke said. "I have not spoken with Frank but will at the appropriate time. We will respect the legal process and make any decisions once we have the facts."                                 -MLive.com, November 17, 2014

Apparently, the "appropriate time" means after Clark has already been kicked off the team. Okay, I suppose he could call that "appropriate".

Anyway, the case blew-up so fast the Wolverine Spin Machine will have people asking, "Frank Who?" by this Saturday afternoon. They'll claim it's "old news" by next week. They will ask us to quit looking so far into the past. Then they will claim they hold the all-time wins record in college football.

So before the next chunk of whatever hits the proverbial fan, let's review a few points about the actual behavior of Michigan football players in the recent past.

MICHIGAN FOOTBALL PLAYER CRIME REPORT

October 24, 2014

TAYLOR LEWAN:  POSTER-BOY FOR UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SPORTS

March 22, 2014

FEDERAL INVESTIGATION INTO MICHIGAN

FOOTBALL PROGRAM IS NOW UNDERWAY

February 25, 2014

UM RAPE SCANDAL MAKES THE PAGES OF SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

February 18, 2014

THE BRENDAN GIBBONS CASE:

HOW THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN VIOLATED FEDERAL LAW

February 12, 2014

BRENDAN GIBBONS COULD BE FORMALLY

CHARGED WITH RAPE AT ANY TIME IN THE FUTURE

February 6, 2014

2013 "chUMp-of-the-Year" FINALIST PROFILE:  TAYLOR LEWAN

January 17, 2014

TAYLOR LEWAN AUDITIONS FOR CAGE-FIGHTING CAREER AFTER FOOTBALL

December 24, 2013

MICHIGAN FOOTBALL IS THE DIRTIEST TEAM IN AMERICA

December 3, 2013

MICHIGAN FOOTBALL SUSPENDS ANOTHER PLAYER

November 1, 2013

HERE COME THOSE DIRTY WOLVERINES

October 29, 2013

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THE GIBBONS RAPE SCANDAL: HOW A "CRIME" COULD BE COMMITTED WITHOUT A "CONVICTION"

There's a sadness that you can feel when reading details and comments about the Brendan Gibbons rape scandal. At some point in the story, you begin to think about what that experience was like for the other student-athlete at Michigan, the one who was assaulted in the middle of the night. Whatever happens with this situation in the future will not change what she went through in her real life.

But a considerable percentage of UM supporters want to wash this case away on the grounds that it has not (yet) yielded a criminal court conviction. The "reasoning" of these folks is that it's not "rape" unless the court says it was "rape". This same reasoning assumes that the only actual crime committed by Al Capone was tax evasion.

This line of reasoning says that Richard Nixon did no wrong since he was not convicted, even though he resigned the most prominent position in our country to apparently avoid prosecution. This viewpoint says that William Calley did not commit murder until a military tribunal said he did. Bernie Madoff was not doing anything illegal until he was caught and convicted. The New York City Police were not corrupt until the Warren Commission said they were. And so on.

There is "guilty", and then there is the legal standard for "guilty". People can be guilty in ways other than the most strict legal definition. It was the University of Michigan that determined through their quasi-legal judicial process that Gibbons was "guilty", and it punished him with expulsion. That's the most severe penalty that such a university process could render in any case.

So we are left with the age-old question of why didn't the victim press charges in 2009/2010. This is a question we can't answer. If the victim ever wants to tell us, we'll be interested in hearing the reasons, but we have no right to chase her down and hound her to explain. We may never know her exact perspective.

To help us understand why a woman may not want to move this type of case forward, MSUSpartan76 has offered some explanations.


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Why Rape Victims May Choose to Not Press Charges

by MSUSpartan76

Studies show that between 1 in 6 and 1 in 5 women are sexually assaulted during their lifetimes. Of those reported, between 1 in 3 and 1 in 6 go to trial. Of those litigated, 18% result in conviction.

• Women are often not believed. Cases can be contaminated with "rape myths" and stereotypes.
• The legal system all too often downgrades or drops the charges through plea bargaining so the offender never has to admit committing the heinous crime.
• Women are often subjected to brutal cross examination practices by their own lawyers to prepare them for what they will face in court. This often causes the women to drop charges.
• The questions asked of the victim are often personally intrusive, making them feel further violated, a situation reserchers call "secondary victimization."
• In the past (and it still happens), police expressed doubt in the women's stories, were unsupportive and even threated to charge the women with crimes for not cooperating.

Women must face intense public scrutiny in the court. This leads to public humiation, excessive pity, unwanted attention from thrill seekers, and a feeling they are viewed as somehow guilty ("they asked for it"). Women are often ostracized, rejected, or even spurned by friends, family, and co-workers for having gone through with a trial. The emotional trauma of the trial and the negative consequences often take years or decades to overcome.

In addition, a first offender can get off with probation and a fine. Jail time is not mandatory.

So, would you put yourself through that knowing that the probability of getting justice was less than 5%? Would you put yourself through that knowing that your assailant could come back at you to "punish" you? Would you put yourself through that to add to your trauma, which will take years to overcome without the added burden of the public trial and its consequences?

That the young woman chose to keep her privacy does not construe innocence to her assailant. It merely shows she understands the whole process is stacked against her.


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Many of us were already familiar with the situations described above by MSUSpartan76. If nothing else, perhaps more people can get an understanding of the problem by learning about this case. To say that Gibbons is "innocent" on the grounds that he has not been declared "guilty" by a criminal court is inaccurate. His own university determined he was "guilty". He received no penalty until he couldn't play football any longer at the University of Michigan.

Michigan supporters are conveniently forgetting the thousands of times they have claimed moral superiority for their school, their athletes and coaches, and their sports teams. This case may be somewhat routine on many college campuses, but that's among the rank-and-file of young Americans. UM claims to be "better" than the rest, but this case, once again, proves otherwise.

THERE IS NO "MICHIGAN DIFFERENCE"

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FEDERAL INVESTIGATION INTO MICHIGAN FOOTBALL PROGRAM IS NOW UNDERWAY

A federal agency is now investigating the University of Michigan regarding its handling of the Brendan Gibbons rape scandal. The Detroit News reports today that the Office for Civil Rights, a division of the United States Department of Education, has taken up the case.

Many have alleged that UM covered-up the sexual assault incident in order to protect one of its own football players. The rape victim was also a scholarship-athlete. Gibbons was arrested in 2009, only hours after the attack took place, but was not expelled from the university until the end of 2013. He played in at least one football game after the school found him guilty based on the "preponderance of evidence" brought against him. Gibbons has not appealed his penalty.

Several student groups are joining together today to march in the streets as a protest against the handling of this case by the UM administration. The protest march is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. at the Rackham Auditorium. Here is a link to the Facebook Page for this event.

We have been reporting this story for the last month on this web site, and you can find a number of articles archived here for your review. Another informational resource just came to our attention, part of a web site called "WN.com". Here is the link to their web site.

Many Michigan apologists have been denying the relevance of this story for the past month, some of them accusing us of making mountains out of molehills. But the events of today prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is a real problem going on with UM Football. This story has been reported by Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, and all of the Detroit-based sports media, among many others.

To paraphrase one of the "anonymous" commenters to our site, you'd have to be an ostrich to keep denying this story any longer.

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WOLVERINES TAKING IT TO THE STREETS TODAY IN PROTEST MARCH AGAINST GIBBONS RAPE SCANDAL

The street protests scheduled for this afternoon by students at the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan are designed to call attention to the failures of their own administration. It was the student-run newspaper, the Michigan Daily, that broke the news of the expulsion of Michigan football player Brendan Gibbons. Today's campus march will take place exactly four weeks after that story broke into the public eye.

The news of what looks to be a "cover-up" in the eyes of most observers was immediately taken seriously by some of the young people at UM. Here's an excerpt of a letter to the student newspaper that appeared the very next day after the story appeared in print:

"I have never been more ashamed of the University I have so long proudly called my own.

"Why did it take four years to investigate the accusation? Why was he allowed to continue playing and representing the University while such serious charges were leveled against him? It is simply unacceptable that the investigation took as long as it did, considering the absolute seriousness of the charges against Gibbons. We absolutely cannot let this story die quietly.

"I, for one, do not accept the University’s slow response and find the way the situation was handled appalling. All signs point to the University looking to cover up potentially bad publicity.

"Is this the Michigan Difference?"

The student-led protest march is scheduled to begin at 2:00 this afternoon on the Ann Arbor campus. This web site will follow the story and report updates as they become available.




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THE "chUMp-of-the-Month" FOR JANUARY 2014 IS DAVID BRANDON

January started slowly but turned into another busy month for chUMp activity. After the exhaustive race to name the 2013 "chUMp-of-the-Year" (David Brandon), it looked like a slow month for the weasel-cousins.

• Then Brady Hoke stood mute at a press conference to introduce the man he supposedly had selected to replace the man he said would not be leaving. Not even a "no comment" from the purported leader-of-the-best.
• Then Nik Stauskas blew a kiss to the Breslin Center audience after the three-minute stretch-run that allowed Michigan to steal a win by five points. Without Payne and Dawson, of course.
• Then the Brendan Gibbons scandal blew up, as the Wolverine Rapist was finally identified (formally) after the cryptic articles about him in 2009 and 2010. Those were the articles that Hoke and Brandon didn't ever read, of course.

So we have some candidates to consider for the monthly award!

Hoke sure looked silly standing around in a background role at what seemed to be his press conference to announce his hire. That's dorky, and he's a doofus for playing puppet like that, but not necessarily a "chUMp" for it. Hoke finishes with another runner-up award, and with it, a dozen free donuts from Tim Horton's.

Stauskas showed his arrogant colors with the blown kiss, but it seemed a bit isolated and arguably out of character. He didn't mouth off before the game the way that Fitz Toussaint did last fall before the beat-down. He didn't carry on after the game the way that Taylor Lewan did after losing to MSU and Ohio STATE. So he was a dink, but not necessarily a chUMp.

Speaking of blown kisses, it seems like that's what Gibbons did all those years ago. He took a chance to be a man and turned himself into a rodent. His own university expelled him, but only after his coach "covered for him". He is certainly and definitely a chUMp. But his main transgressions took place more than four years earlier, and his identity was released last summer, so it's not timely to tag him in January with the dishonor.

That leaves just one final candidate to consider for "chUMp-of-the-Month". This is a man who has influence, if not direct control and/or authority, over ALL of these chUMpish things. You know who he is:

DAVID BRANDON

Brandon didn't have to play Hoke like a puppet at the Nussmeier press conference, but he did. Brandon sticks his nose so deeply into the UM team locker rooms that he could have talked to John Beilein about keeping it real at Breslin, and avoiding the creation of new material to fight over in the future. And he could have shown actual leadership when taking over the job by cleaning up the problems that he found when he got there. (Like the Gibbons/Lewan problems.) Wasn't that the reason he was hired?

Brandon has no rightful place in public employment. He is perpetuating the worst of the "Michigan Difference" on a daily basis, from sky-writing to lying to puppetry. He is an absolute disgrace to the entire State of Michigan.




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THE FAMOUS "DOCTOR SMITH" CHECKS IN ON M-LIVE ARTICLE COMMENT THREAD

The Brendan Gibbons scandal at the University of Michigan was exposed in very large part due to the independent web site "Washtenaw Watchdogs" and the online testimony of former UM Professor Douglas Smith. Smith made a public statement regarding the lack of movement on the Gibbons case at a Board of Regents meeting in 2011.

While I came across the web site a few months ago, many people seemed to be caught off guard by this story when it broke last week. Most of those who reported prior knowledge of the case in comment threads referred to the "Washtenaw Watchdogs" web site. So the work of Dr. Smith has proven to be a key element in the public processing of the case.

But nothing more has been heard from Smith about this situation...until now. The latest M-Live article tracking the story had over 400 comments, and one of them came from the famous doctor. Here is the text of his comment:

"I was a professor of Pathology at UM from 2006 to 2009. I was a "Clinical Professor" which is different than a tenured professor in that I had a 3 year contract and they could decide not to renew it for whatever reason. They did not renew my contract and I decided to retire (I had worked at U of Nebraska, U of Oklahoma, Baylor Univ. Medical Ctr. before coming here). I filed a grievance against my boss because he wanted to keep 200k of my money. In the process of filing FOIA's I found out what the University does to whistleblowers. I settled my grievance with the University but I became well known for helping whistleblowers ( I helped Dr. Borisov get acquitted on criminal charges and win $550k in a settlement with UM, I also helped another persecuted post doc at NYU and others). I decided to set up the WW website to cover stories that I thought other news media was not covering. I file a lot of FOIA requests and I try to post all of the documents so that readers who doubt my take on the story can read the documents themselves and make up their own mind. I cover primarily UM, county gvt and local police and I look for corruption, violations of civil rights and wasting taxpayers money. I hope that others will eventually join me to cover more Washtenaw County governments such as Ann Arbor, Saline, Chelsea, etc. For the time being I am a one man operation (a little retirement project)."

While Smith and his work is not literally "germaine to the case", we provide this quick background as a reference for those interested in this individual.

Key Note: The statute-of-limitations for sexual assault in Michigan

ranges from six years to 10 years, meaning the victim may

still ask to press charges for several years to come.

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"DOCTOR SMITH" IS BANNED BY THE ANN ARBOR NEWS

The former University of Michigan Professor who brought the Brendan Gibbons rape scandal to public light has been banned by the Ann Arbor News from commenting on their articles. Doug Smith says the ban was apparently triggered by his report of some Taylor Lewan shenanigans, and it was imposed on him just after the Gibbons expulsion went into effect.

Here's an excerpt from the "Washtenaw Watchdogs" web site:

"The editors of the Ann Arbor News have banned me from commenting on their news articles. This is all because I posted some comments critical of their censorship of commenters and their editorial decisions. 

"This started with an article that they posted regarding the investigation by Ann Arbor Police of an alleged assault by UM football player, Taylor Lewan, on some Ohio State football fans after the UM/OSU football game. The Ann Arbor News article had very little information in it and made it sound like Taylor Lewan was just in the area of the fight rather than him actually being the assailant. One of the commenters on the article posted a link to the original story. The censors at the AA News removed the link."

There is more from Dr. Smith about his story at this web site:

http://www.washtenawwatchdogs.com/help-i-have-been-banned-from-the-ann-arbor-news.html

Dr. Douglas M. Smith is a former 

professor

(2006-2009) 

in the College of Medicine,

Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan,

where he was Director of the

Clinical Histocompatibility Laboratory.

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MORE FAKE UM FOOTBALL WINS? HOW ABOUT THE ENTIRE 1909 SEASON! (ineligible player)

Seems like we keep hearing about "fake-out" attempts by the University of Michigan. They faked the attendance numbers for their football games, they faked an exhibition basketball game into a regular-season game (Hillsdale), they faked a "Senior Night" for a player who was not a senior and whom they may still "re-sign" for his second "senior season" (Max Bielfeldt), and they faked a college basketball career for a player whom they dropped like a hot potato as soon as better players appeared on the horizon (Austin Hatch).

We've been reporting on the faked-out nature of their so-called "All-Time Wins" record for college football. UM claims 915 "victories" and the top-spot amongst Football Bowl Subdivision schools, yet we've shown how dozens of their claimed wins were against pick-up squads of high-school age kids.

But the 1909 season may be the most

egregious claim of them all.

Michigan blatantly used illegal players

to win six games that year.

They even admitted to cheating.

The non-college-student who caught most of the attention was James "Joy" Miller, arguably the best player on the UM team in 1909. Turns out he barely attended any classes, and he was never actually enrolled as a college student at Michigan. In other words, he was a professional player.

We don't need to make things like this up,

we just report on stuff that's glossed-over by 

the UM-loving mainstream sports media.

Here is the link.

Here is a preview of what you will find in the story if you click on the link:

"In early December 1909 the Michigan Daily reported concerns over whether newly elected team captain James ‘Joy’ Miller was properly registered as a U-M and if he actually attended enough classes during the fall 1909 to be eligible for the football team. While an official decision had yet to come down on the incident, Chairman of the Board in Control of Outdoor Athletics Geo. W. Patterson had heard enough and started firing off letters of apology to Michigan’s 1909 opponents. The U-M Bentley Library holds a copy of the apology sent to Minnesota in its archives. The one page missive, dated December 22, 1909, explained the situation:

"The facts of the case are that Mr. Miller returned to college late this fall, registered in the Engineering Department but neglected to enroll in his classes, although he did attend some of them."

"On Christmas Eve 1909 the New York Times broke the news to the world with a headline that howled “FOOTBALL SCANDAL IN MICHIGAN TEAM”. Miller’s colleagues in the School of Engineering recommended that he be kicked out of school. After ignoring several requests to return to campus to face the charges, Miller was officially expelled on January 14, 1910."

So there goes another six (6) "football wins" swirling down the drain-pipes of history. And along with it, the mythology that Michigan never cheats at football. Looking over the historical record, it's not so hard to understand the roles played more recently by players like Taylor Lewan, Brendan Gibbons, and others.

Combined with our other articles on this topic (links below), that makes 27 undeniably bogus football wins for UM, leaving them a mere eight (8) games ahead of Notre Dame on the all-time list. Can we find more fake victories? Yes we can, stay tuned to this web site!

Five "Wins" Claimed Against a Modern Banquet Facility

Five More Bogus Wins Claimed by UM

Five More Phoney-Baloney "Games Won" by Michigan

Games Against Surgeons, Soldiers, and Cricket-Players

Michigan's Most Stupid "All-Time Win"

- - - Research credit for this article goes to MSUSpartan76 - - -

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MICHIGAN FOOTBALL PLAYER ARRESTS DURING THE BRADY HOKE ERA (COMPLETE LIST HERE)

We keep hearing about what a nice guy Hoke is, especially with his players, whom he frequently refers to as his "115 sons". (Very festive of him to wear his halloween costume for the big night game.) Reports indicate he actually kisses his players good-bye on the field during pre-game festivities on Senior Day. That sort of reputation must mean Hoke does a great job keeping his "sons" on the straight-and-narrow path to Michigan Manhood.

Or not? Is it true that a dozen UM players have had legal problems the last few years, even with Father Brady at the helm? Let's look at the record.

Here are the names of University of Michigan football players who've had legal scrapes during the Hoke Era. (If we've missed any, we invite readers to submit information in the "Comments" below.)

March 15, 2014:  GRAHAM GLASGOW

Operating a vehicle while intoxicated

(source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source)

December 1, 2013:  TAYLOR LEWAN

Disorderly Person Drunk / Disturbing the Peace

(source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source)

October 27, 2013:  A. J. WILLIAMS

Operating a vehicle while intoxicated / underage drinking / running a stop sign

(source) (source) (source) (source) (source) 

July 18, 2013:  CSONT'E YORK

Assault and Battery / Aggravated Assault

(source) (source) (source) (source) (source) 

November 4, 2012:  DENARD ROBINSON

Driving with a suspended license

(source) (source) (source) (source) (source)

July 21, 2012: FITZ TOUSSAINT

Driving under the influence

(source) (source) (source) (source) (source)

June 14, 2012: FRANK CLARK

Second-degree felony home invasion

(source) (source) (source) (source) (source) 

April 7, 2012:  WILL CAMPBELL

Malicious destruction of property

(source) (source) (source) (source) (source) 

February 4, 2012:  JERALD ROBINSON

Malicious destruction of personal property

(source) (source) (source) (source) (source) 

September 29, 2011:  MARVIN ROBINSON

Second degree home invasion

(source) (source) (source) (source) (source) 

Well, not quite a dozen, but that's ten players arrested under Brady Hoke. We didn't count Daryl Stonum, as we are crediting him to the RichRod account. Same with Brendan Gibbons, though a case could be made that Hoke played roles with both miscreant players.

So maybe put a hold on the statue-building for now, at least until we see if Michigan can make it through this weekend without any more players getting arrested.

Did we miss any? Please feel free to

COMMENT BELOW

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