Report: Minnesota players accused of sexual assault, harassment
Minnesota football players have reportedly been accused of sexual assault and sexual harassment over the past year.
Per the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the athletic department has been made aware of the accusations from the 2014-15 school year. However, none of the accusations have resulted in charges per a university official. The school declined to tell the paper how many players were accused of wrongdoing or the players' identity citing privacy restrictions.
The e-mail was obtained Wednesday through a records request by the Star Tribune. In an interview Thursday, Hewitt said the concerns were raised over the course of the 2014-15 academic year. She refused to be more specific, saying that doing so could compromise student privacy. She declined to say how many players were involved, the number of alleged victims, where the alleged incidents occurred or to provide any other details. No police reports were filed, a university spokesman said.
The U’s general counsel refused Thursday to provide the numbers of complaints of sexual harassment and sexual assault reported since Sept. 1, 2014, involving allegations against football players, as well as the numbers of alleged victims. The general counsel’s office said that because fewer than five reports of sexual assault and fewer than five reports of harassment were received in that time frame, the data could lead to the identification of individuals and the violation of their privacy rights.
An email citing five allegations was emailed to athletic director Norwood Teague over the summer. Teague is no longer Minnesota's athletic director. He resigned after he was accused of multiple instances of sexual harassment. The email was sent to him on July 16. He resigned August 7. The email included 'two reports of sexual assault 'committed by individual players,' two reports of sexual harassment involving “groups of football players” and a report of retaliation of involving 'a group of football players.'"
Coach Jerry Kill told the paper that he was aware of one allegation against a player and that administration handled disciplinary action.
The report said at least one accusation was investigated by the university. Others were not investigated because the accusers did not want to go forward.
In addition to Teague, five complaints of sexual harassment were also reported against associate athletic director Mike Ellis, who has taken a leave of absence. The five anonymous complaints came against Ellis after Teague's resignation. When he resigned, Teague acknowledged that he had sent inappropriate text messages to two University employees.
Minnesota hosts Nebraska on Saturday.
For more Minnesota news, GopherIllustrated.com.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
