[Vision2020] Spear Responds to Johnson Case

[Saundra Lund]

Thanks, Tom, for posting this.  Personally, I found Spear's official
response beyond nauseating and his -- and by extension, the University of
Idaho's  -- hubris despicably stunning.  He & Verlin know sooo much more
than the UoP Judiciary Committee that actually heard the facts from those
involved and spent hours & hours & hours taking testimony and deliberating
rather than listening to mere second- and third-hand spin.  Riiiggghhhttt.
Obviously, the possibility of getting a great athlete no one else would
touch was more important to "The Decision-Makers" than the safety of women
in the university community.

There is so much nonsense in Spear's response one could choose to respond
to, but I'll confine myself to just one:
"He said if the facts had supported the allegations, then Johnson would have
been charged, tried and probably convicted, which would have prevented
Johnson from enrolling as a UI student."

Where, exactly, does Rob Spear live because it isn't on Planet Earth and
it's definitely not in the United States nor in Idaho, otherwise he'd not
make such a totally STUPID statement.  Even more distressing than his
gob-smacking ignorance about the Realities of Rape -- acquaintance, family,
or stranger -- is that Spear plays the "father" card.  I genuinely don't
know how a "father" could raise a daughter to college age without even the
barest of knowledge about sexual assault in general and acquaintance rape
specifically.  Honestly, short of living under a rock on another planet, no
person of even average intelligence & common sense would make such a STUPID
and patently false statement given the coverage acquaintance rape in general
and acquaintance rape on college campuses have deceived for the last TWO
DECADES or so.  Sheesh.

Of very grave concern is that Spear is an ATHLETIC DIRECTOR at a university
making such a STUPID statement.  Clearly, he's dumber than a bag of rocks
about acquaintance rape, which is chilling for ANYONE in university
administration in this day and age, no matter how nice a guy Spear is
otherwise.

Minimally, Spear should have had the mother wit to actually talk with a sex
crimes detective/investigator/advocate before making such a STUPID
statement.  Heck -- there are even resources right there on campus Spear
could have used to educate himself rather than just staying STUPID.  Shoot
-- had he even *bothered* to Google "acquaintance rape on college campuses,"
for God's sake, he wouldn't have said such a STUPID thing!  With attitudes
like Spear's, is it any wonder acquaintance rape is the MOST unreported
crime on college campuses?! 

Additionally, given Spear's breath-taking ignorance, it's not exactly rocket
science to understand how Verlin could be even more vacuous.  Point blank,
Verlin should have been immediately sacked -- rather than given a raise when
so many others at the university don't even have "raise" in their vocabulary
any longer -- for the ***extremely poor judgment*** of even considering
bringing Johnson here, let alone handing him a full ride scholarship on a
silver platter.

All of that is water under the bridge now, I suppose.

However, the UI had best start remedial education & awareness IMMEDIATELY.
Since the Athletic Director is so completely ignorant, every single person
connected to the Athletics Department needs sexual assault on college
campuses awareness and prevention training by a ***qualified*** instructor.
A hint is that you do NOT recruit KNOWN perpetrators.

Further, given the stunning ignorance of at least one of those responsible
for athlete recruitment who thought snapping up the expelled Johnson was a
good idea, ALL current UI athletes should be required to attend mandatory
sexual assault awareness and prevention training by a ***qualified***
educator.  Certainly, we can't trust the likes of Spear or Verlin to have
made wise choices about who to bring here, nor can we trust them to impart
important values like, "No means no," or "This institution and this
department has a zero tolerance for sexual aggression and assault" when
neither saw a thing in the world wrong with giving Johnson a full ride
scholarship.

Here's hoping the UI has the wisdom moving forward to make this scandal a
teaching moment rather than one of defensive justification for the
unjustifiable.


UI Alum,
Saundra Lund
Moscow, ID

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
nothing.
~ Edmund Burke


-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Tom Hansen
Sent: Saturday, April 30, 2011 1:43 PM
To: Moscow Vision 2020
Subject: [Vision2020] Spear Responds to Johnson Case

"Spear echoed the sentiments of UI by relating the situation to his
daughter.

 'I have a daughter who is a college student on this campus, and I am the
last person who would bring an alleged . well, a sexual predator on this
campus,' he said."

This may very well be true, Mr. Spear, but not all female UI students have
parents on the UI management payroll.


Courtesy of the Friday (April 29, 2011) edition of the UI Argonaut at

http://www.uiargonaut.com/sections/news/stories/2011/april/42911/spear_respo
nds_to.html

--------------------------

Spear Responds to Johnson Case

Former University of Idaho basketball player Steffan Johnson was awarded a
full-ride scholarship to UI two months after being expelled from University
of the Pacific under allegations of sexual assault. He was recruited by
coach Don Verlin, and Athletic Director Rob Spear agreed with the decision,
but had no direct contact with UOP, and said they were aware of all the
facts surrounding Johnson's expulsion.
 "You have to understand the facts behind the case, and I am not at liberty
to discuss those facts, but if you knew the facts as we know them you would
be making the decision that we did to bring him to this campus to
participate as a student athlete and be a productive citizen here,"
Spear said.
 Spear said it was alleged that Johnson had been associated with the sexual
assault of former UOP student-athlete Beckett Brennan in May 2008, which was
featured on an episode of "60 Minutes" that aired April 17.
Johnson was one of three men named in the incident, but the only to be
expelled after an investigation by UOP's Judiciary Committee.
 Brennan never brought legal charges against the three men. The Judiciary
Committee was made of three students, one faculty member and one
administrator who spent 25 hours deliberating, Brennan said. Johnson claimed
he was not present during the alleged sexual assault.
 Johnson was never charged with any crime in the court system.
 At the time of his recruitment, Johnson had not been officially named as
one of the students accused in the case, but had been removed from the
2008-09 team roster along with the two other players who were suspended from
school and the team after the incident. Johnson had been connected to the
incident in various media reports.
 "Coach Verlin and I had several discussions about this. Coach Verlin did
his due diligence with this in recruiting Johnson as in recruiting any
student athlete," Spear said. "Verlin talked with administration down at the
UOP, he talked with the investigating police officer and talked with his
twin brother, who is an assistant basketball coach at UOP."
 Verlin, who declined to comment, relayed the information from UOP to Spear
during Johnson's recruitment process, according to Spear. Spear also said
Verlin spoke extensively with his brother, someone Spear said was a reliable
source of information.
 "I would think that if your brother was telling you that there was a kid
who played at the UOP who was a model citizen for three years and never
caused them any trouble, was never involved in any type of situation, that
you would trust your brother on that recommendation," Spear said.
 Spear said the facts they had gathered from this communication told them
Johnson would come to campus, be a good citizen, contribute to the
basketball program and leave with a degree. Johnson graduated from UI in May
2010 with a bachelor's in communication studies.
 "If you look at our history here, we have made the right decision regarding
the behavior of student athletes," Spear said. "If you look back, it wasn't
too long ago that coach (Robb) Akey dismissed 17 scholarship football
players for not being good citizens, so we have a history of doing the right
thing, and that history tells us that we are not going to bring in kids that
are a risk to our campus."
 UI released a statement after the episode of "60 Minutes" aired, which
stated they were aware of Johnson's past.
 "The circumstances that led to the student's expulsion from Pacific were
disclosed to the University of Idaho, which considered them before accepting
his transfer," according to the release. "The University of Idaho takes
seriously its commitment to creating a safe environment for all of its
students and does review its student applications with care."

 Spear echoed the sentiments of UI by relating the situation to his
daughter.

 "I have a daughter who is a college student on this campus, and I am the
last person who would bring an alleged . well, a sexual predator on this
campus," he said.

 He said the Athletic Department has received emails questioning how they
could bring a person who was connected to a sexual assault allegation to
campus, and said the facts don't back up the allegation. He said if the
facts had supported the allegations, then Johnson would have been charged,
tried and probably convicted, which would have prevented Johnson from
enrolling as a UI student.
 "People are assuming that because Johnson was expelled that he has
automatically played a larger role in this incident than the other two
students, and I will tell you that there are facts that we gathered that
allowed us to make an informed decision on his admittance to the UI,"
Spear said.
 Spear emphasized that the university did its "due diligence," and said he
believes they made the right decision at the time. But after the "bad
publicity" generated from "60 Minutes," Spear said he might not make the
same decision today.
 "Well hindsight is always 20/20," Spear said, "and if I had known that UI
was going to be placed in a bad light because of a '60 Minutes' story, we
might not have done this."

-----------------------------------

Convince us, Mr. Spear, that you are doing the right thing before you give
away tax-supported scholarships to students of questionable ethics.

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho