Assistant AD and head athletic trainer knew about Anderson. Also Manuel mishandled complaint.
Paul Schmidt apparently knew about it and has been at Michigan since the 80s. Also Warde Manuel supposedly mishandled an accusation and sent it to general counsel's office instead of the Title IX coordinator.
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/29093383/michigan-trainer-allegedly-knew-sexual-misconduct-former-team-doctor
April 24th, 2020 at 12:18 PM ^
What matters now is how the university handles the aftermath. Do they fire everyone who knew? Do they try to connect with victims and provide support? Do they run an actual investigation or do they just hire some cover-up artists?
The sad truth is that stuff like this happened everywhere. Probably still does on some level. We'll see if Michigan's response is better than those at other B1G schools.
All of the above. Fire Warde if he mishandled something (how do you do this when this is getting so much attention?), and fire anyone that knew or enabled. Open up that endowment and pay the piper.
This is a total disgrace and they need to lead here by doing the right things (legit investigations, full accountability, giving victims benefit of the doubt, etc).
Firing someone for forwarding a letter to counsel instead of a Title IX office seems like a bit of a stretch. The letter was forwarded within a day to the proper department. Nobody was harmed by that delay. Absent sitting down and reading a procedures manual, forwarding something to a lawyer and asking what should be done about it seems like a prudent step.
The fact of the matter is that the Washtenaw prosecutor sat on the info from UM because they didn't think their was a high likelihood of finding a chargeable crime and that was the primary reason so much time passed between the letter being sent and it becoming public.
This is correct. It is my understanding that the information was received by Warde and was forwarded to the attorney and then the Title IX office on the same day. The order of who was notified first seems to be the issue. But there was no delay in sharing of information.
That's why I said "if he mishandled something" which it sounds like he didn't. In which case, he has nothing to be held accountable for, but anyone that does, gone and possibly worse (criminal charges if appropriate).
I said this once and I'll say it again that Warde contacted ALL former student athletes from the 1970s, '80s, 90s, etc. I among them. This was done in both email form and then a snail mail letter to all of us.
Mishandled? What more do you want? The university is handling the aftermath appropriately. It is now a waiting game to see how many of these responses they will get back from all of these former student athletes. There is no stone that they are not overturning.
Odd... When it was PSU, MSU, and OSU, the way the university handled it meant nothing. They were all trash schools and would never meet the standard of the 'Michigan Men'. Michigan was morally superior and something like this would never happen there. It's almost like this place is filled with fucking hypocrites.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:20 PM ^
There are a ton of lawsuits already filed. Will they join up and go class action? I'm not a lawyer and am curious.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:53 PM ^
....but have you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express?
April 24th, 2020 at 12:20 PM ^
This Anderson situation hasn't been handled all that well by UM, and they deserve to be raked over the coals.
I do think Warde Manuel sending the letter to the GC instead of Title IX isn't as bad an action, at least compared to how other schools have handled such issues, as some are making it out to be. He received a letter outlining abuses by a now-deceased former employee of the school. He had training and and should have gone directly to the Title IX coordinator, but sending the information to the general counsel doesn't strike me as some nefarious attempt to hide the accusation, especially since he probably assumed the GC would forward the letter to the right person (which they did later that day). I've worked in a school's legal department and absolutely know of instances where things are sent to you because people assume you'll know where to send it, even when you aren't necessarily the first option. I'm not excusing Manuel completely here; he should have sent it concurrently to the Title IX office at the very least. But I just don't see his actions as nefarious. Perhaps I'm in the minority on that end.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:24 PM ^
That may be fair. May be more ignorance than nefarious, but seems unclear now. Good insight.
I'm substantially more concerned regarding inaction of chair of board of regents.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:34 PM ^
That's true. The Board should have acted way sooner, and that's unacceptable.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:38 PM ^
Chair is an Anderson victim, FWIW
April 24th, 2020 at 12:39 PM ^
Yeah, it's gets terrible/depressing. Chair of trustees said he was abused like 50 years ago...it's awful. Feel complete sympathy towards him and I'm sure he wanted to keep it private for a long time. What gets me though is he then ran and became chair of trustees. At that point you have a responsibility to say what occurred within the university - especially as other universities are going through the exact same thing. There were a lot of other Anderson victims that continued to quietly suffer while someone who easily could've spoken up did not, perhaps partly for the sake of the brand. Again, he was a victim and that's awful...but power brings responsibility. It's just a terrible situation.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:55 PM ^
Abused 50 years ago? At what point does a person move on from bad things that happen to them and go on with their life?
Seems like everyone wants to be a victim of something and claim that status, or at least profit from it as much as they can.
This is a horribly bad take
Looks like all is takes are pretty bad. Looks like the quarantine is really getting to him.
That's ... that's like the very basis of -- wow man.
Here (pugboy) we seem to have a classic authoritarian personality. Be a good boy, sweep it all under the rug, and smile big when your supervisor stops by your desk! Don't complain. Your betters know what is best for you.
Jesus tapdancing Christ, this is a bad take.
For a heterosexual man to admit publicly that he was sexually abused by another man is an incredibly difficult thing. Even today, but especially 50 years ago. That's now so many perverts got away with this shit for so long.
100% agree. I can't imagine.
Just troubles me that he has been the chair of board of trustees.
Again, terrible situation all around.
At the end of the day, he is still a victim. By the time he become chair of the board he had decades to think about this trauma and find ways to cope/deal with it that most likely involved never telling anybody that it happened.
Not that he's suing the university, but I wonder if there are any conflict of interest or related issues at play?
April 24th, 2020 at 12:28 PM ^
The reason the Title IX office has to exist and should get the message is because GCs too often worked to cover this kind of thing up. It's not good, and anyone in a position like Warde's has to know this.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:32 PM ^
Interesting. Would be curious about those communications. Wonder if GC knew it was sketch Manuel was sending to him and immediately told him...hey, get your act together here...get to right people.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:40 PM ^
I get that. But I also think this was a situation that is probably a bit out of your "average" Title IX complaint where a current employee is being accused of wrong-doing that is either ongoing or happened somewhat recently. This was former athlete describing an assault that occurred decades ago by a former employee who is now deceased. I'm not disagreeing with you that GCs have, in the past, covered up these situations and that's why Title IX offices exist. I'm just saying that, practically speaking, I've seen GCs be treated as the "router" for non-standard situations like this (though not in terms of Title IX issues).
This is not some defense of Manuel generally; he should have sent it to the Title IX office. But I can see how this particular fact pattern may have led him to believe letting the GC know initially to provide guidance was prudent.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:49 PM ^
I still think it's an actionable and probably fireable offense.
GTFO here with that. How ridiculous.
You think Warde should be fired for taking the complaint to the lawyers first before the Title IX office? You’ve obviously never worked in business before. It’s a legal matter. Taking it to the lawyers first is exactly what a you SHOULD do. It’s the lawyers’ job to know where to direct it from there.
It’s not like he sat on it and did nothing. Jesus, how PC-whipped are you?
I bet you self-reported yourself to the police for sexual assault for breast feeding on your mother.
You’d be a perfect Sparty.
I'm pretty sure a lawyer's job is to piss on everything and extract every billable minute possible while doing the minimal amount of work.
I don't disagree. At the very least he should be punished publicly and UM should make it clear that behavior wasn't correct. My only issue is that in stories like this that all of the quotes tend to be from attorneys filing lawsuits against the school and are thus inclined to speak somewhat hyperbolically about the intentions of an actor. We don't actually know what Manuel was thinking (or even what communications he had with the GC) when he handled this letter, and so I would like to know a bit more before the pitchforks come out for him. Now, all of the school admins who apparently knew about Anderson for years, they should be gone.
Yeah, I'm willing to consider pending investigation some sort of public reprimand for Manuel. But I'd put him on administrative leave pending said investigation. It's not like he has a ton to do for the forseeable future anyway.
Agree. It is not good at all. The general counsel office is the one place that the existence of the Title IX office is trying to prevent the letter being delivered to.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:34 PM ^
There may be reasons why Manuel didn't do what protocol called for, but is not knowing the protocol--or simply erring--okay for the AD of a major university in this situation? I don't know exactly, but--nice guy, whatever--did he still F up? And what might or should be the consequences?
April 24th, 2020 at 12:44 PM ^
Don't forget it "sat on someone's desk" for 2 months before it was dealt with at all. And we didn't hear anything until one of the victims went to the media 18 month after the complaint.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:23 PM ^
So now we have no moral high ground and still suck at football. Yeah, cool. So we have employees that enabled a pedophile, but let's keep throwing rocks at OSU, Bama, etc for paying players ($ they probably deserve).
Let's blindly follow follow NCAA rules as if that makes us ethically superior, but be just as shitty about things that matter...like protecting the safety of students and athletes.
Cool. At least we don't "cheat"
April 24th, 2020 at 12:27 PM ^
Seems like the last few years have proven how protecting the brand is so important for these universities - be it UM, MSU, OSU, USC, PSU, etc. Often hinders what should've been done. Quite startling.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:40 PM ^
You left out online classes.
Let's make fun of ohio for online classes even though Michigan has 'em too.
These things are not even in the same universe and your sadness about football losses and concurrent desire to win at all costs doesn't belong in this thread.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:26 PM ^
This post shouldn't get negged. Most of us, lord knows I'm guilty, have ridden on a pretty high horse with what happened at Penn State, OSU, and MSU. It''ll be better if we face the music, no matter how bad it gets.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:41 PM ^
This post shouldn't get negged
Group think is a powerful thing around these parts.
Yeah, I'm not calling PSU pedo state anymore. Sigh.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:48 PM ^
Don’t fret. Some of these dudes wouldn’t know their ass from a hole in the ground if Brian didn’t tell them in a condescending tone.
You can still call them that. Many in that fan base still don't believe Paterno or PSU did anything wrong and the whole thing was made up by greedy people calling themselves victims then then made bigger by people in the rest of the B1G who were jealous of Joe Pa.
Did you know UofM is jealous of Penn State and Paterno?
We don't have any of that here that I've heard of.
"have ridden on a pretty high horse". that speaks to you. i think most just wanted justice done.
i think we need more facts to come out in UM's case. this case is much more difficult as the alleged perp and most others in the admin are dead and can't defend themselves. in the end i hope justice is done.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:30 PM ^
Leaders and best. Clean house and fire Warde with cause.
On edit: I don’t care about the negs. It’s just proof that you’re no better than the average Mork of Urban apologists.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:33 PM ^
WTF? What's his fault, forwarding it to GC instead of Title IX? Geez.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:35 PM ^
Don’t expect people to deal with things in any other way than raw emotion on this board.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:41 PM ^
Mr Irony here.
April 24th, 2020 at 12:43 PM ^
Did I say that I’m exempt from “people on this board”?