University of Minnesota president Eric W. Kaler addressing the media today regarding the reneged player protest.On Thursday, Minnesota football players threatened to boycott any football-related activities—including their upcoming appearance in the Holiday Bowl—in protest of the indefinite suspension of 10 players amidst a Title IX sexual assault investigation. But here we are, just two days later and 10 days away from the bowl appearance, and players have decided to drop their protest and prepare for the game.pic.twitter.com/XNX5l0UUVv
— Peter Cox (@peterncox) December 17, 2016
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The players released a statement to members of the press today, outlining their rationale for halting their boycott. It seems that they realized that there was no possibility of reversing the suspension.It also seems like someone gave them a talking to about the kind of message their initial statement sent, which drew ire over the past couple of days. The first statement, released Thursday, made no mention of sexual assault, and included a not-so-vague allusion to the language of a certain sexual assault-endorsing president elect. (However, in the current statement, the players still seem to be murky on the concept of due process.)Here is today's statement in full:Let me first state so there is no misperception: sexual harassment and violence against women have no place on the campus, on our team, in our society, and at no time is it ever condoned. We recognize that there is a legal threshold and there is a moral threshold and a standard of values set forth by this university. There is only one acceptable way to treat all women and all men, and that is with the utmost of respect at all times.On Tuesday, we along with everyone else, learned of the suspension of 10 of our teammates. Five of them had been previously suspended for an incident where they were not charged with any crime. We are not here to judge nor defend their actions—that is for the authorities. We also learned that five additional teammates were indefinitely suspended. We had questions, and still do not understand how such severe consequences could be vetted out without proper due process.Kaler speaks to Reputation of gopher athletics after the boycott pic.twitter.com/FiF1YQyYMd
— Peter Cox (@peterncox) December 17, 2016
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