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<DIV><FONT size=2>UI philosophy: All's fair in love, war, and athletic
recruiting.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>w.</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=v2020@ssl1.fastmail.fm href="mailto:v2020@ssl1.fastmail.fm">Saundra
Lund</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=thansen@moscow.com
href="mailto:thansen@moscow.com">'Tom Hansen'</A> ; <A
title=vision2020@moscow.com href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">'Moscow Vision
2020'</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=rspear@uidaho.edu
href="mailto:rspear@uidaho.edu">rspear@uidaho.edu</A> ; <A
title=wcenter@uidaho.edu
href="mailto:wcenter@uidaho.edu">wcenter@uidaho.edu</A> ; <A
title=hgasser@uidaho.edu
href="mailto:hgasser@uidaho.edu">hgasser@uidaho.edu</A> ; <A
title=president@uidaho.edu
href="mailto:president@uidaho.edu">president@uidaho.edu</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, May 04, 2011 1:23
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] Spear Responds
to Johnson Case</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Thanks, Tom, for posting this. Personally, I found
Spear's official<BR>response beyond nauseating and his -- and by extension,
the University of<BR>Idaho's -- hubris despicably stunning. He
& Verlin know sooo much more<BR>than the UoP Judiciary Committee that
actually heard the facts from those<BR>involved and spent hours & hours
& hours taking testimony and deliberating<BR>rather than listening to mere
second- and third-hand spin. Riiiggghhhttt.<BR>Obviously, the
possibility of getting a great athlete no one else would<BR>touch was more
important to "The Decision-Makers" than the safety of women<BR>in the
university community.<BR><BR>There is so much nonsense in Spear's response one
could choose to respond<BR>to, but I'll confine myself to just one:<BR>"He
said if the facts had supported the allegations, then Johnson would
have<BR>been charged, tried and probably convicted, which would have
prevented<BR>Johnson from enrolling as a UI student."<BR><BR>Where, exactly,
does Rob Spear live because it isn't on Planet Earth and<BR>it's definitely
not in the United States nor in Idaho, otherwise he'd not<BR>make such a
totally STUPID statement. Even more distressing than his<BR>gob-smacking
ignorance about the Realities of Rape -- acquaintance, family,<BR>or stranger
-- is that Spear plays the "father" card. I genuinely don't<BR>know how
a "father" could raise a daughter to college age without even the<BR>barest of
knowledge about sexual assault in general and acquaintance
rape<BR>specifically. Honestly, short of living under a rock on another
planet, no<BR>person of even average intelligence & common sense would
make such a STUPID<BR>and patently false statement given the coverage
acquaintance rape in general<BR>and acquaintance rape on college campuses have
deceived for the last TWO<BR>DECADES or so. Sheesh.<BR><BR>Of very grave
concern is that Spear is an ATHLETIC DIRECTOR at a university<BR>making such a
STUPID statement. Clearly, he's dumber than a bag of rocks<BR>about
acquaintance rape, which is chilling for ANYONE in
university<BR>administration in this day and age, no matter how nice a guy
Spear is<BR>otherwise.<BR><BR>Minimally, Spear should have had the mother wit
to actually talk with a sex<BR>crimes detective/investigator/advocate before
making such a STUPID<BR>statement. Heck -- there are even resources
right there on campus Spear<BR>could have used to educate himself rather than
just staying STUPID. Shoot<BR>-- had he even *bothered* to Google
"acquaintance rape on college campuses,"<BR>for God's sake, he wouldn't have
said such a STUPID thing! With attitudes<BR>like Spear's, is it any
wonder acquaintance rape is the MOST unreported<BR>crime on college campuses?!
<BR><BR>Additionally, given Spear's breath-taking ignorance, it's not exactly
rocket<BR>science to understand how Verlin could be even more vacuous.
Point blank,<BR>Verlin should have been immediately sacked -- rather than
given a raise when<BR>so many others at the university don't even have "raise"
in their vocabulary<BR>any longer -- for the ***extremely poor judgment*** of
even considering<BR>bringing Johnson here, let alone handing him a full ride
scholarship on a<BR>silver platter.<BR><BR>All of that is water under the
bridge now, I suppose.<BR><BR>However, the UI had best start remedial
education & awareness IMMEDIATELY.<BR>Since the Athletic Director is so
completely ignorant, every single person<BR>connected to the Athletics
Department needs sexual assault on college<BR>campuses awareness and
prevention training by a ***qualified*** instructor.<BR>A hint is that you do
NOT recruit KNOWN perpetrators.<BR><BR>Further, given the stunning ignorance
of at least one of those responsible<BR>for athlete recruitment who thought
snapping up the expelled Johnson was a<BR>good idea, ALL current UI athletes
should be required to attend mandatory<BR>sexual assault awareness and
prevention training by a ***qualified***<BR>educator. Certainly, we
can't trust the likes of Spear or Verlin to have<BR>made wise choices about
who to bring here, nor can we trust them to impart<BR>important values like,
"No means no," or "This institution and this<BR>department has a zero
tolerance for sexual aggression and assault" when<BR>neither saw a thing in
the world wrong with giving Johnson a full ride<BR>scholarship.<BR><BR>Here's
hoping the UI has the wisdom moving forward to make this scandal a<BR>teaching
moment rather than one of defensive justification for
the<BR>unjustifiable.<BR><BR><BR>UI Alum,<BR>Saundra Lund<BR>Moscow,
ID<BR><BR>The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people
to do<BR>nothing.<BR>~ Edmund Burke<BR><BR><BR>-----Original
Message-----<BR>From: <A
href="mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com">vision2020-bounces@moscow.com</A>
[mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com]<BR>On Behalf Of Tom Hansen<BR>Sent:
Saturday, April 30, 2011 1:43 PM<BR>To: Moscow Vision 2020<BR>Subject:
[Vision2020] Spear Responds to Johnson Case<BR><BR>"Spear echoed the
sentiments of UI by relating the situation to his<BR>daughter.<BR><BR> 'I
have a daughter who is a college student on this campus, and I am the<BR>last
person who would bring an alleged . well, a sexual predator on
this<BR>campus,' he said."<BR><BR>This may very well be true, Mr. Spear, but
not all female UI students have<BR>parents on the UI management
payroll.<BR><BR><BR>Courtesy of the Friday (April 29, 2011) edition of the UI
Argonaut at<BR><BR><A
href="http://www.uiargonaut.com/sections/news/stories/2011/april/42911/spear_respo">http://www.uiargonaut.com/sections/news/stories/2011/april/42911/spear_respo</A><BR>nds_to.html<BR><BR>--------------------------<BR><BR>Spear
Responds to Johnson Case<BR><BR>Former University of Idaho basketball player
Steffan Johnson was awarded a<BR>full-ride scholarship to UI two months after
being expelled from University<BR>of the Pacific under allegations of sexual
assault. He was recruited by<BR>coach Don Verlin, and Athletic Director Rob
Spear agreed with the decision,<BR>but had no direct contact with UOP, and
said they were aware of all the<BR>facts surrounding Johnson's
expulsion.<BR> "You have to understand the facts behind the case, and I
am not at liberty<BR>to discuss those facts, but if you knew the facts as we
know them you would<BR>be making the decision that we did to bring him to this
campus to<BR>participate as a student athlete and be a productive citizen
here,"<BR>Spear said.<BR> Spear said it was alleged that Johnson had been
associated with the sexual<BR>assault of former UOP student-athlete Beckett
Brennan in May 2008, which was<BR>featured on an episode of "60 Minutes" that
aired April 17.<BR>Johnson was one of three men named in the incident, but the
only to be<BR>expelled after an investigation by UOP's Judiciary
Committee.<BR> Brennan never brought legal charges against the three men.
The Judiciary<BR>Committee was made of three students, one faculty member and
one<BR>administrator who spent 25 hours deliberating, Brennan said. Johnson
claimed<BR>he was not present during the alleged sexual
assault.<BR> Johnson was never charged with any crime in the court
system.<BR> At the time of his recruitment, Johnson had not been
officially named as<BR>one of the students accused in the case, but had been
removed from the<BR>2008-09 team roster along with the two other players who
were suspended from<BR>school and the team after the incident. Johnson had
been connected to the<BR>incident in various media reports.<BR> "Coach
Verlin and I had several discussions about this. Coach Verlin did<BR>his due
diligence with this in recruiting Johnson as in recruiting any<BR>student
athlete," Spear said. "Verlin talked with administration down at the<BR>UOP,
he talked with the investigating police officer and talked with his<BR>twin
brother, who is an assistant basketball coach at UOP."<BR> Verlin, who
declined to comment, relayed the information from UOP to Spear<BR>during
Johnson's recruitment process, according to Spear. Spear also said<BR>Verlin
spoke extensively with his brother, someone Spear said was a
reliable<BR>source of information.<BR> "I would think that if your
brother was telling you that there was a kid<BR>who played at the UOP who was
a model citizen for three years and never<BR>caused them any trouble, was
never involved in any type of situation, that<BR>you would trust your brother
on that recommendation," Spear said.<BR> Spear said the facts they had
gathered from this communication told them<BR>Johnson would come to campus, be
a good citizen, contribute to the<BR>basketball program and leave with a
degree. Johnson graduated from UI in May<BR>2010 with a bachelor's in
communication studies.<BR> "If you look at our history here, we have made
the right decision regarding<BR>the behavior of student athletes," Spear said.
"If you look back, it wasn't<BR>too long ago that coach (Robb) Akey dismissed
17 scholarship football<BR>players for not being good citizens, so we have a
history of doing the right<BR>thing, and that history tells us that we are not
going to bring in kids that<BR>are a risk to our campus."<BR> UI released
a statement after the episode of "60 Minutes" aired, which<BR>stated they were
aware of Johnson's past.<BR> "The circumstances that led to the student's
expulsion from Pacific were<BR>disclosed to the University of Idaho, which
considered them before accepting<BR>his transfer," according to the release.
"The University of Idaho takes<BR>seriously its commitment to creating a safe
environment for all of its<BR>students and does review its student
applications with care."<BR><BR> Spear echoed the sentiments of UI by
relating the situation to his<BR>daughter.<BR><BR> "I have a daughter who
is a college student on this campus, and I am the<BR>last person who would
bring an alleged . well, a sexual predator on this<BR>campus," he
said.<BR><BR> He said the Athletic Department has received emails
questioning how they<BR>could bring a person who was connected to a sexual
assault allegation to<BR>campus, and said the facts don't back up the
allegation. He said if the<BR>facts had supported the allegations, then
Johnson would have been charged,<BR>tried and probably convicted, which would
have prevented Johnson from<BR>enrolling as a UI student.<BR> "People are
assuming that because Johnson was expelled that he has<BR>automatically played
a larger role in this incident than the other two<BR>students, and I will tell
you that there are facts that we gathered that<BR>allowed us to make an
informed decision on his admittance to the UI,"<BR>Spear said.<BR> Spear
emphasized that the university did its "due diligence," and said
he<BR>believes they made the right decision at the time. But after the
"bad<BR>publicity" generated from "60 Minutes," Spear said he might not make
the<BR>same decision today.<BR> "Well hindsight is always 20/20," Spear
said, "and if I had known that UI<BR>was going to be placed in a bad light
because of a '60 Minutes' story, we<BR>might not have done
this."<BR><BR>-----------------------------------<BR><BR>Convince us, Mr.
Spear, that you are doing the right thing before you give<BR>away
tax-supported scholarships to students of questionable ethics.<BR><BR>Seeya
round town, Moscow.<BR><BR>Tom Hansen<BR>Moscow,
Idaho<BR><BR>=======================================================<BR> List
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