University of Illinois, citing insufficient evidence, closes internal probe of basketball player Terrence Shannon Jr.
The University of Illinois has closed a student misconduct investigation of men’s basketball star Terrence Shannon Jr., saying it did not have sufficient evidence to determine whether the Chicago native violated the school’s student code after he was accused of rape in Kansas.
In a notice dated Friday, the director of the university’s Office for Student Conflict Resolution wrote that the investigator in the probe did not have access to the complainant, the complainant’s witness or the complete file from the police department in Lawrence, Kansas.
“The complainant has not indicated an intent to participate in a hearing before a hearing panel at this time,” the director, Robert Wilczynski, wrote in the letter. “As a result, the process has concluded.” No disciplinary action will be taken at this time, he added.
Shannon’s attorney, Robert Lang, said Shannon fully cooperated with the university’s investigation and is “looking forward to graduating with a sociology degree in May. That’s always been important to him.”
A university spokesperson declined to comment, citing federal privacy laws.
Shannon, 23, faces one count of rape or an alternative count of misdemeanor sexual battery in a case that stems from a September trip he and two others took to watch the Illini football team play the University of Kansas.
Lawrence police said in an affidavit that a woman, born in 2005, told a detective that Shannon put his hand under her skirt, grabbed her buttocks and penetrated her with his finger while at a crowded bar near the Kansas campus.
Shannon has denied the allegations. A preliminary hearing in his Douglas County, Kansas, criminal case is scheduled for May 10.
A first-team All-Big Ten selection this season and last, he was second in the conference in scoring at the time of his six-game suspension. Shannon sued the university over that suspension, and a federal judge on Jan. 19 granted a preliminary injunction returning Shannon to the team. His attorneys moved to voluntarily dismiss that federal lawsuit in the wake of the Office for Student Conflict Resolution’s decision.
The fifth-year guard went on to lead the Illini to a Big Ten Tournament championship — being named Most Outstanding Player in the process — and a trip to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight, where he and his teammates were trounced by eventual champion Connecticut 77-52.
Shannon was named a third-team All-American this season. Some NBA draft prognosticators had him as a first-round pick before his arrest.
The university could reopen its investigation, Wilczynski wrote in the notice, “if new substantial evidence is brought to the attention of (the Office for Student Conflict Resolution) from any source.” The school’s Title IX coordinator also could review the decision to conclude the investigation, he added, if requested to do so by either party.
The Tribune’s Tracy Greer contributed.
