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Students petition to cut Michigan player

By Daily Bruin Staff

May 27, 2003 9:00 p.m.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. “”mdash; Bernard Robinson Jr. will represent the
University of Michigan on the basketball court while serving
probation for assaulting a female undergraduate ““ and the
student staff from the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness
Center said they are not happy about it.

University students associated with SAPAC have drafted a
petition that asks the University’s highest officials to
overrule the decision to keep Robinson on the court.

Addressed to University President Mary Sue Coleman and the Board
of Regents, the petition, dated May 19, was available for the
university community to sign, including students, staff and
alumni.

“We ask that Bernard Robinson Jr. be stripped of his
captaincy for the 2003-2004 season, lose his basketball scholarship
from the University of Michigan and be removed from the University
of Michigan’s men’s basketball program,” said the
petition.

The letter goes on to say that maintaining Robinson’s
athletic status amounts to the university’s “tacit
consent” in violence against women.

Robinson is the basketball team’s 6-foot-6-inch forward.
He averaged 32.2 minutes, 11.2 points and 6.1 rebounds this past
season, and was chosen as one of the team’s captains for the
2003-2004 year.

Last March, Robinson pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and
battery for an incident that occurred in April 2002.

According to Department of Public Safety reports, Robinson was
accused of fondling a female student in a stairwell of West Quad
Residence Hall. The student escaped and contacted DPS, who arrested
and released Robinson the next morning.

Robinson was initially charged with three counts of
fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. As part of his plea
agreement, the charges were dropped and replaced with two
misdemeanor counts of assault and battery.

He was sentenced to a year of probation, which requires him to
participate in sex-offender screening, to deliver a presentation to
other Michigan athletes about criminal sexual conduct and to
abstain from drugs and alcohol. He was also fined $850 and ordered
to have no further contact with the victim, except for a required
letter of apology.

But to those who signed the petition, the penalties are hollow
if Robinson is still permitted to wear a Michigan uniform.

“By allowing [Robinson] to continue to represent the
university on a national level, the university administration shows
a lack of commitment to ending violence against women on this
campus,” the petition said.

“Allowing Robinson to continue to play for the
university’s men’s basketball team also sends a message
to this student body and to the nation at large that the University
of Michigan is less concerned with the character of its
student-athletes than with their athletic abilities.”

But university basketball coach Tommy Amaker has said that the
current consequences are sufficient.

“Bernard knows that the consequences for his action carry
a great deal of weight and will not be taken lightly,” Amaker
said in a written statement released when the sanctions were
announced.

“We will expect him to fulfill all his obligations as
outlined by the judge,” Amaker added. “He will take a
leadership role in sharing this experience with his teammates and
especially with our freshmen players so they, too, understand the
serious nature of this issue.”

Sports Information Director Tom Wywrot said nobody in the
basketball program was available to comment directly about the
petition.

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