Brooks sanctioned under Code

Jason Brooks, an offensive lineman on the Michigan football team and a Kinesiology sophomore, has been disciplined under the University's Code of Student Conduct for sexually assaulting a female University student, the victim told The Michigan Daily.

Brooks accepted responsibility for four Code violations last week, said the victim, a University sophomore who asked not to be identified.

The four counts are: physically harming another person; sexually assaulting or sexually harassing another person; illegally possessing, using, distributing, manufacturing or selling alcohol or other drugs; and violating state or federal law if such action has a serious impact on the University community.

Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations Bruce Madej said Brooks - who was red-shirted as a first-year student last season - was not eligible to play in the football team's first four games of the season because of a "team violation." But, Madej said the sophomore is eligible to play in tomorrow's game against Iowa.

"I assume he is (playing) because he is listed as one of our backups now," Madej said.

Brooks could not be reached for comment.

The Code is the University's internal discipline system. It's sanctions range from educational discipline to expulsion.

The incident that spurred the victim to file a Code complaint in March occurred Feb. 21, 1998.

Shortly after she filed a police report with the Department of Public Safety, the victim said she filed a Code complaint using the same statement she made in the police report.

According to the DPS document, the victim was walking home from a party to her South Quad residence hall room shortly after 3 a.m. when she encountered Brooks and a friend. The two approached her. Brooks put his arm around the victim, which made her nervous, so she tried to walk faster.

As she approached a door leading into the residence hall, Brooks' friend blocked the victim from swiping her M-Card through the detector. Some words were exchanged, and then Brooks kissed the victim against her will. He then asked if he could come up to her dorm room with her. When she told him no, he asked for her phone number, according to her accounts on the DPS report.

"Unfortunately, I was entirely terrified and so many things were running through my mind over what these two men would do to me, that I actually wrote down my phone number and gave it to him," the report states.

According to the DPS record, Brooks asked the victim to have sex with him. Then he forced her to fondle him and asked her to perform oral sex on him. She claims he also asked her to go back to his room with him and he forcibly kissed her again. After the victim refused to go with Brooks, he and his friend left and the victim went into her residence hall, the report states.

The document states that Brooks called the victim three times within the week following the incident.

Six sanctions were placed on Brooks, the victim said.

n Brooks must continue substance abuse counseling and provide record of the counseling.

n Brooks cannot have any contact with the complainant.

n Brooks cannot enter any campus residence hall, with the exception of South Quad Residence Hall for specific football functions. At those times, he must enter and exit from a pre-determined door.

n Brooks must complete individual counseling until it is deemed no longer necessary.

n Brooks cannot have any contact with the complainant in an educational setting. For instance, if they register for the same class, Brooks must drop it.

n Brooks must abide by all Athletic Department disciplinary actions, which include substance abuse counseling and restriction from participating on the football team.

The victim said she plans to appeal the decision reached under the Code because she feels the matter was mishandled and she did not fulfill her objective.

"Going into the (Code) process, all I wanted was for Jason Brooks to be removed from the football team," the victim said.

University officials refused to comment about the details of the case. They are prohibited under federal law from publicly releasing the names of anyone involved in Code proceedings.

The three-person appeals panel comprised of a University faculty member, an administrator and a student can alter the original sanctions placed on Brooks.

She said she decided to file a Code complaint in addition to the one she filed in a Washtenaw County court because Brooks violated not only her safety, but her rights as a member of the University community.

"The court sanctions took care of my safety," she said, but the legal system couldn't go much further.

"When he chose to do that, he forfeited his rights and privileges to be a member of that team," she said.

He added that all disciplinary actions taken against Brooks as a football player were made in compliance with the University.

The victim said she hopes the appeals process will result in the removal of Brooks from the football team. But she also said she hopes it will shed more light onto how Code cases are handled.

"What is most important to me at this point with the Code is that the complainant's rights are viewed as slightly more important than they were in my situation," she said. "I didn't feel this was dealt with properly."

The victim said she feels she was not adequately informed of the proceedings of her case.

"There was very little effort made on their part to communicate with me," she said.

After filing the complaint in March with then resolution coordinator Mary Lou Antieau in the Office of Student Conflict Resolution, the victim said she was contacted occasionally during the summer. She said she was then notified by now interim resolution coordinator Sean Esteban McCabe that he was taking over her case

Finally, she called the office last Thursday and made an appointment with McCabe for last Friday, at which time she learned that an informal resolution had been made in her case on Sept. 21. An informal resolution means that Brooks accepted responsibility for the complainant's account of the violations, which was depicted in the complaint.

"I had not been notified of that," she said. "So, I didn't even know that there was the possibility of an informal resolution ...."

Brooks, who was originally charged with fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in the court, resolved criminal charges with a plea bargain this past June, said Brooks' attorney Nicholas Rumelle.

Rumelle said Brooks' sentence will not be released to the public.

"The plea bargain fell under The Holmes Youthful Trainee Act for first offenders and is supposed to be sealed under Michigan law," Rumelle said. "I wish Jason nothing but the best."

The victim said she hopes to meet with members of the University's senior administration and Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr next week to discuss the manner in which her case was handled under the Code.

"I think that it will kind of move things a little closer to reality to meet the person who is suffering the most," she said.

Of 20 cases that involved either sexual assault or sexual harassment, with some including both, from January 1997 to the present, six individuals were found responsible for the charges against them. Estaban McCabe said.

Of those six, four were suspended in addition to other sanctions they faced and two only faced a variety of sanctions, not including suspension.

Estaban McCabe said five cases still are pending, two were dropped for insufficient evidence, five were mediated at the request of the complaining witness and two of the accused were found not responsible.

- Daily Staff Reporter Jason Stoffer contributed to this report.

10-02-98