Originally posted by ScousePhil

So the victim should've changed school and joined another team? Why should she change her lifestyle just to accomodate him.

yes, because her obligation/responsibility is to the team that she chose to be a part of. it would not be accommodating 'him' it would be accommodating her school and peers. the matter between her and the player has nothing to do with the school or basketball for that matter.

And how dare you blame the victim for putting herself in that position. It is not okay to assault anyone regardless of where they are or whether they are drunk or not.

calm down snappy. im not blaming her for being assaulted, im blaming her for putting herself in an environment that led to her being assaulted, I.E. under-age, unsupervised, drinking.

That's the same type of weak arguement as saying she was wearing sexually provocative clothing so she was asking for it.

nobody said that.

He admitted to sexually assaulting her and while that may not mean he followed through and went on to rape her I'm sure it still had an effect on her mentally.

nobody is disputing his conviction. what i am making clear is what he was NOT convicted of and that is rape. there may not be much difference to you but to the courts there is. a felony is much different than a misdemeanour's, and therefore what constitutes each is much different. as far as the rest of his life goes it makes ALL the difference.

And it was completely insensitive of the school administrators to expel her from the team for not cheering someone who was CONVICTED of assaulting her.

the school is not required to be sensitive nor does it have to cater to personal matters between students unless mandated by the courts. again, your channelling your anger at the wrong entity,

And yes the fact that she was thrown of the team can have ramifications for her future. And who cares if his future is affected she's not the one who assaulted someone why should she suffer anymore.

because BARE MINIMUM she needs to walk away from this learning:

a) to not drink under-age/unsupervised.
and
B) to hang with a different crowd.

The court made the wrong decision by saying it was a frivilous lawsuit when anyone with a conscience can see it was entirely justified.

it wasnt justified at all. its not the job of a public school to play Dr.Phil and mediate external disputes between students, unless mandated by the courts. again, your mad at the wrong entity. take it out on the courts.

your knee-jerk anger is what almost cost the school upwards of 50 grand. and im sure they are hurting allready.

YOU say POOR LITTLE GIRL

I say POOR ALL-OF-THE-OTHER CHILDREN. they had nothing to do with any of it!

I would give the bastard a "CLAP", but, it would be the kind of CLAP that it takes penicillin to get rid of....

She should have gotten a restraining order forced against him. Then him and her wouldnt be allowed to be in the same building and cheering or not cheering for him wouldnt be an issue.

You know I can see her high school kicking off her off the cheer squad. The federal court that ordered that she had to pay the school $45000 for a "frivolous" lawsuit is just criminal. This girl has now been victimized by a classmate, her school and now even a court of law. No surprise though some schools in U.S. are all about the sports and they will do anything to keep their sports programs tiptop even going so far to doctor grades so why not go after a cheerleader who doesn't cheer for her rapist its only frivolous in and itself.

The court ruling that this girl surrendered her constitutional right to free speech because she represented her school as a cheerleader is bull. My Constitution say that the right to free speech is "inalienable" I would have to say to these courts: read the U.S. Constitution.

The only thing that really bothers me is this rapist basketball player will probably will go on to get to get a full college scholarship (probably rape another girl there) and then go on to play professionally and rape another girl and walk.

Seriously. This story disgusts me. I know what i would do if i were her, id buy a trenchcoat!

One thing that needs to be understood on this case is:

The two cases are not related to one another.

It is not so much a dysfunctional court system (although IMHO the system as a whole is) as it is her parents (I don't think a 16 yr old had the funds to start this lawsuit) got confused between the two cases and how they relate to one another.

Also, I would love to see the agreement that was signed when she joined the cheer team. I would imagine that it probably states that you are acting as a mouthpiece for the school (in correct legal terms) which would throw her case outright.

So, recap, from the legal perspective, the only thing that would matter is her agreement between herself and the school. The case between her and the assualter (Bolten?) would be an entirely seperate issue.

All this being said, shame on the school for the complete lack of common sense and sensitivity. Wether he assualted or raped her shouldn't have matter. They should have just let her stand there in silence or asked her if she wanted to be present at all. So many better ways this could have been handled...idiots.