James Still sentenced to 15 years

7 Responses to James Still sentenced to 15 years

1. MathGeek | January 23, 2013 at 4:08 pm | Reply

   If you think anyone from Athletics is going to comment, you’re delusional. And if you think anyone is going to get in trouble, you’re even more delusional. Athletics/athletes at EMU are as protected as they are at UofM, Penn State, or any other major college that is trying to present an image. This will be brushed under the rug, and everyone will forget. Case in point, did anyone in athletics comment when the two football players were arrested for assaulting the student in front of Pease a little while back? Nope. Out of sight, out of mind.

   • Curious | February 3, 2013 at 9:15 am | Reply

     The “major colleges” that you mentioned, along with a handful of others (EMU not among them), promote their commercial sports because they MAKE MONEY. A sea change will help competitively-unsuccessful smaller schools, such as EMU, to unwind the boa constrictor of football from their neck. Bad use of limited resources. More attention to that Pease assault would be a welcome tool in that escape.

2. corv99 | January 23, 2013 at 5:52 pm | Reply

   This is the type of situation where I believe the AAUP and other unions on campus should demand answers from the University and Athletics administration. The earlier articles on this topic basically accused the Athletic department of violating EMU’s own policy. If anyone else at EMU was responsible for knowingly enrolling a student facing serious felony charges the University community would be outraged. What if Mr. Still would have assaulted or injured another student while at EMU, why should we wait until something bad happens before we fix this type of problem. As far as I’m concerned the Athletic Director should be fired and the AAUP should lead the charge. The last women’s basketball coach was fired for violating NCAA violations, Rob Murphy (Men’s Basketball Coach) recruited James Still knowing he was facing felony charges, Charles Ramsey (former Basketball Coach) was suspended for assaulting an EMU student while at a game at Detroit Mercy, how much more has to happen before the AAUP actually stands up for something meaningful. I realize that usually its more fun to complain about office space or the temperature in what ever building you guys are teaching in, how about actually taking on an important topic. Dr Gragg has been a disaster and should be held responsible for the actions of his coaching choices. Over 7 years at EMU and almost finished with my second degree I’ve heard the professors complain about everything from the president’s house, Dickinson murder, President Martin’s drinking etc… This is just as important and nobody is talking about it, I wish they would. Just my opinion; but for our University’s sake I hope the people who’s opinion actually matter (AAUP) start to speak up. Thanks.

   • cmadler | January 24, 2013 at 6:40 am | Reply

     It’s not about admission, it’s about him being on the team. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think EMU has a hard rule prohibiting the enrollment of alleged felons, and probably not of convicted felons. It would be something the admissions department would look at carefully, I’m sure, but I doubt any actual university policies were violated in that regard. (Of course, if they were we’ll never know, because student records are protected for a very very long time.)

3. cmadler | January 24, 2013 at 6:36 am | Reply

   It’s difficult, because the university has the student privacy law (FERPA) to hide behind. The best I can figure out, ALL records relating to an individual student are protected, including records from before the person enrolled as a student, until something like 50 years after death.

   So, if we had submitted a FOIA request before Still enrolled, we might have been able to get some information about the internal discussions that went into this, but once he enrolled, it all became protected.

   Unfortunately I knew about this crime when Still’s recruitment became public (alleged crime at the time) and I wrote about it, but I foolishly assumed that the matter was already resolved. Lesson learned on my part.

4. grady | January 24, 2013 at 3:17 pm | Reply

   This just shows how under the radar EMU athletics are in the grand scheme of things. No real local sports coverage exists anymore from the traditional media so there is no one to call them out. I wonder if the host of the radio show would bring up this topic?

   Having said that, I am not calling for heads to roll yet because, well, we don’t know who knew what and when etc. It seems obvious policies were violated, but how did that happen. That is the over riding question that needs to be resolved – and then appropriate action should be taken. Of course, this starts with someone, anyone, from the athletic department commenting.

   In these situations, EMU either over reacts or under reacts. There never seems to be an adequate response (and that is troubling after all of these years.)

5. another alum | January 31, 2013 at 2:17 pm | Reply

   EMU does have strict policies about previous criminal history. There is a question asked of every applicant and everyone who checks YES is sent to a special committee for review.