Quote Originally Posted by MAKBison View Post
In my mind, this kid is getting a raw deal. Yes, he brought it on himself and maybe it's some sort of universal karma coming back on him, but the bottom line is that the kid got in trouble prior to attending YSU, he was a juvenile, he did what was required and has not been in trouble since. The law says he paid his price.

BTW, I bet YSU has other kids that got in trouble and are participating in clubs, groups etc. I don't see how you go about choosing who gets to do participate and who must still be punished. I don’t condone rape, but if you believe in our system of laws, retribution was paid. We now need to give the kid a chance to grow.
I think the kid should be allowed to attend school if he pays tuition and follows the rules for the reasons you laid out. However, think about if NDSU's football program put themselves in this situation. I'd be utterly disgusted and my Team Maker donations would cease as long as they continued to have this guy as part of the program and I'd make sure Simmers/Larsen/Klieman knew how I felt.

Also, this isn't your garden variety rape conviction (if there is such a thing). There are very disturbing reports of him and his family trying to bully his accuser into recanting any allegations despite the fact that there were numerous braggadocial text/picture messages from this guy and his douchebag friends essentially proving they raped an unconcious girl. Beyond that I've seen several articles from his original trial where his representatives kept talking about how strong he was facing adversity and a tough situation at such a young age (referring to the whole trial process). I couldn't care less about how tough things were for a rapist who brought all this on himself. Btw, the party where the rape occurred was at the house of a volunteer coach on his high school football team. The superintendent at the high school was charged with felony tampering for trying to cover it up. The whole story reeks of enablement.

Bottom line is I don't feel an ounce of sympathy for either side in this. The kid is lucky to even be a practice player at a D1 university given his violent past and YSU bungled this from the start, not to mention the shady details of how he initially decided to walk on, so they deserve the bad press they're getting and will continue to get.