The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights is investigating whether the University of Michigan failed to promptly respond to an alleged 2009 rape of a student involving a football player, The Detroit News has learned.
Kim Kozlowski reports the investigation is prompted by two complaints, including one filed last year by Doug Smith, a former U-M pathologist who has been among the loudest voices demanding that the university investigate the alleged rape. Former kicker Brendan Gibbons was arrested in the case but not charged.
The Michigan Daily, the student newspaper, reported last month that Gibbons, U-M’s starting kicker for the past three seasons, was expelled in December -- four years after the incident and at the end of his football carer -- for violating the University’s Student Sexual Misconduct Policy.
Notice of the federal inquiry comes as a demonstration will be held on campus Tuesday by students upset by the administration’s handling of sexual violence cases.
Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education, confirmed Tuesday morning that the Office for Civil Rights is investigating a Title IX complaint involving U-M.
University officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the investigation. The victim, and Gibbons, also could not be reached for comment.
At 2 p.m. today at Rackham Auditorium, a group of students are planning to march to the Fleming Administration Building to protest the handling of sex crimes on campus.
The Michigan Daily published a story today that explains the student sexual misconduct policy. Click here to read it.
Previously on Deadline Detroit:
Wolverines Kicker Brendan Gibbons Expelled For Sexual Misconduct
Michigan Daily Asks: What Took Four Years in Player's Sex Case?
Read documents in the case here.
