The University of Minnesota football team announced Friday they will boycott all football activities, possibly including the Holiday Bowl, after the university about the suspension of 10 players this week.
The team will continue its boyott until the university lifts the suspension of 10 teammates involved in sexual assault allegations.
The 10 suspended players were accused of sexual assault.
Five of the players were expelled from the university.
Four face one-year expulsions.
Now this…
The University of Minnesota football team ended its boycott on Saturday.
The Huffington Post reported:
But early Saturday, the players relented.
“After many hours of discussion within our team, and after speaking with President Kaler, it became clear that our original request of having the 10 suspensions overturned was not going to happen,” the players said in their statement.
Kaler and Coyle’s statements Friday night made it clear that the school viewed its “institutional values” as “far more important than any football game” or “any single athletic team.”
“The University of Minnesota will not change our values or our code of conduct for the sake of a bowl game,” Kaler said in his statement.
The players began their statement with a condemnation of sexual assault, saying that it has “no place on this campus, on our team, in our society.”
During a news conference Saturday morning, Kaler said he was “very pleased” that the players had ended the boycott and promised a fair investigation and hearing for the suspended players.