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High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rapist

doubleohfive

doubleohfive

Fleet Admiral
This is rigoddamndiculous.

The guy raped her, served time after bargaining down his sentence (community service and anger management for raping a girl, assisted by two of his friends?), and she gets kicked off the team because she refused to cheer his name (and only his name) after having been to every event all along since she was first assaulted?

On top of this, she has the gumption to sue the school, only to have the Texas courts uphold the school's decision.

Her silence apparently "constituted substantial interference with the work of the school because, as a cheerleader, H.S. was at the basketball game for the purpose of cheering, a position she undertook voluntarily." Well, I'm sure H.S. never expected to be "volunteering" to cheer for someone who had assaulted her. And the idea that by just being silent during Bolton's free throws, a barely noticeable act, was "substantial interference with the work of the school" — um, we're talking extracurricular sports, not classroom disruption — makes little sense.
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Excuse me, it's more than just "makes little sense." It's goddamn incomprehensible.

What the fuck is going on in Texas that this could happen?
 
Re: High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rap

So Texas... you still want your independence?
 
Re: High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rap

That sounds like one hell of a corrupt school district. This guy was convicted. She should not have had to do one damn thing that involved his name.
 
Re: High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rap

A lot of people still love to blame the victim.
 
Re: High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rap

Mulder is better than me.

Yeah, too many people still do that victim-blaming thing. Look, sometimes it is the truth. (Basically never in the case of rape, though.) Most of the time, like, say, this time, it obviously isn't.

Just... ugh.
 
Re: High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rap

I just can't fathom why a school would place the girl's psychological well-being after such a traumatic event and a crime --for which the guy narrowly escaped being prosecuted for, but for which everyone else seems to be aware he committed anyway-- below their desire for the school basketball team's pride. It's not like she was the star cheerleader at competition and suddenly refused to compete the day of the performance; she went to all the games and did her part as a cheerleader; she simply refused to cheer the name of the asshole who raped her.

It's disgusting. It's wrong. And it's awful. This isn't an argument about "blame the victim" ... it's an argument about common fucking sense, which apparently few people in that Texas school district or court system seem to possess.
 
Re: High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rap

I'm showing my ignorance here but can she appeal this at all and try and sue with a higher level court?
 
Re: High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rap

Not only that, Caroline Heldman reports on Ms. Magazine's blog that school officials pushed H.S. "to keep a low profile, such as avoiding the school cafeteria and not taking part in homecoming activities." As though she should somehow be ashamed for having been raped and brought charges against her attacker. Where exactly was she supposed to eat so as to not cause discomfort to the star athlete? H.S. also refused to take this offensive "advice."
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W.T.F?

This asshole shouldn't even be at the same school with her any more, much less on a team she would have to cheer for. But they tell her that she should keep a low profile and stay out of his way?

The only possible good to come out of this is that the publicity the court loss has caused will likely create enough public outrage to force the school to reinstate her and transfer him; in other words do what they should have done in the first place if they weren't more concerned for their basketball record than protecting one of their students.
 
Re: High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rap

This is disgusting behavior by the school and the administration. Absolutely disgraceful. This girl has nothing to be ashamed of. She did nothing wrong.
 
Re: High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rap

doubleohfive said:
This is rigoddamndiculous.

The guy raped her, served time after bargaining down his sentence (community service and anger management for raping a girl, assisted by two of his friends?), and she gets kicked off the team because she refused to cheer his name (and only his name) after having been to every event all along since she was first assaulted?

On top of this, she has the gumption to sue the school, only to have the Texas courts uphold the school's decision.

Her silence apparently "constituted substantial interference with the work of the school because, as a cheerleader, H.S. was at the basketball game for the purpose of cheering, a position she undertook voluntarily." Well, I'm sure H.S. never expected to be "volunteering" to cheer for someone who had assaulted her. And the idea that by just being silent during Bolton's free throws, a barely noticeable act, was "substantial interference with the work of the school" — um, we're talking extracurricular sports, not classroom disruption — makes little sense.
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Excuse me, it's more than just "makes little sense." It's goddamn incomprehensible.

What the fuck is going on in Texas that this could happen?
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This really seems par for the course for Texas to me.

Well, not really. They did let the rapist bargain down his sentence rather than just giving him the DP.

After reading the story.

I'm really disgusted. This school district should have agencies crawling up its ass with a microscope and accredit them. They treating the victim as the one who should hide and be ashamed?!

WTF Texas?

What.

The.

Fuck?!
 
Re: High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rap

sidious618 said:
I'm showing my ignorance here but can she appeal this at all and try and sue with a higher level court?
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The next step would be the United States Supreme Court. She could certainly try to appeal to SCOTUS, but the court hears a very tiny fraction of the cases appealed to it in any given year so the odds would certainly be stacked against it from being argued before the court.
 
Re: High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rap

I guess it could be argued she has no "right" to be on the cheer-squad. So on the front of her suing and "winning" her position back is dubious. But I could see punitive damages and emotional damages and even "what the fuck?!" damages from their actions in how they're treating her as the aggressor in the "relationship" between her and her attacker. (Telling her to avoid him, to eat outside, to not go to prom?!)

Something in me is saying this guy is a good football player with a pending college scholarship and potential of going pro so they're doing whatever they can to make sure his life doesn't get fucked up.
 
Re: High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rap

Screecher4747 said:
I guess it could be argued she has no "right" to be on the cheer-squad. So on the front of her suing and "winning" her position back is dubious. But I could see punitive damages and emotional damages and even "what the fuck?!" damages from their actions in how they're treating her as the aggressor in the "relationship" between her and her attacker. (Telling her to avoid him, to eat outside, to not go to prom?!)

Something in me is saying this guy is a good football player with a pending college scholarship and potential of going pro so they're doing whatever they can to make sure his life doesn't get fucked up.
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In that case, maybe he'll play for the Bengals. It sounds like a joke, but I'm not joking. :vulcan:
 
Re: High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rap

J. Allen said:
Screecher4747 said:
I guess it could be argued she has no "right" to be on the cheer-squad. So on the front of her suing and "winning" her position back is dubious. But I could see punitive damages and emotional damages and even "what the fuck?!" damages from their actions in how they're treating her as the aggressor in the "relationship" between her and her attacker. (Telling her to avoid him, to eat outside, to not go to prom?!)

Something in me is saying this guy is a good football player with a pending college scholarship and potential of going pro so they're doing whatever they can to make sure his life doesn't get fucked up.
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In that case, maybe he'll play for the Bengals. It sounds like a joke, but I'm not joking. :vulcan:
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Screech - did you even read the damn article? The rapist played basketball, not football.

J. Sarek of whatever fuck ever: When are you gonna pick a name and stick with it? I can't keep track anymore. From now on I'm just going to call you Mr. Firley.
 
Re: High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rap

J. Allen said:
Screecher4747 said:
I guess it could be argued she has no "right" to be on the cheer-squad. So on the front of her suing and "winning" her position back is dubious. But I could see punitive damages and emotional damages and even "what the fuck?!" damages from their actions in how they're treating her as the aggressor in the "relationship" between her and her attacker. (Telling her to avoid him, to eat outside, to not go to prom?!)

Something in me is saying this guy is a good football player with a pending college scholarship and potential of going pro so they're doing whatever they can to make sure his life doesn't get fucked up.
Click to expand...

In that case, maybe he'll play for the Bengals. It sounds like a joke, but I'm not joking. :vulcan:
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I really don't like that link in the OP (sorry, 00) as it reads a bit too much like an opinion piece than a news piece and I'm having a hard time finding a "good" news piece (from say CNN or something like that) but I'm sure one will hit the streets sooner or later.

To correct myself above he was a basketball player not a football player so that already makes him slightly more useless. And it does seem it was plead out, he was not expelled, because of needing him for a game or something. Part of their argument seems to have something to do with the school disclosing her personal information (what happened/the suit) but the 5th Circuit mostly focused on the whole cheerleader thing, it was made into a First Amendment issue.

It sounds like the whole thing is a mess but it also sounds like they school has its head up its ass.

EDIT -

Screech - did you even read the damn article? The rapist played basketball, not football.
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I skimmed through it, but it wasn't exactly written much like a news article so I glanced off of it and started researching it on my own to find a news article rather than an OP-ED blogish post form a women's rights group with an axe to grind. This:

Bolton was set to be on the school's varsity basketball team, and they couldn't risk losing by barring him from playing for a silly thing like a rape charge. That could impact their chances at winning. Who cares about the traumatic impact it would have an a cheerleader who needed to vocally support a team including her rapist?
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Paragraph stopped me from reading as something like that just doesn't belong in a news article. It's too much of the author's voice and opinion bleeding into the story. I mean it's not necessarily a wrong statement, it just was out of place. I started looking for something written in a bit more neutral tone.

But whether it was football or basketball hardly seems to make a difference. As I still think the school went after her than him because he was a "star player" and he could still have a potential career in college hoops. So my statements based on it being football rather than basketball are hardly affected by me getting the sport wrong.

The school is still fucked up for treating the young woman like this.
 
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Re: High school cheerleader kicked off squad; Refused to cheer for rap

Screecher4747 said:
Well, not really. They did let the rapist bargain down his sentence rather than just giving him the DP.
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Par for the course in criminal justice, unfortunately. This part of the story sounds a lot like what happened with the guy who assaulted me. The offender being allowed resume his life with minimal consequence while the victim is burdened with the legal and moral expectation to clean up the mess and keep status quo for everyone else's comfort, or risk punishment, is also familiar.

Appalling as it is, these gross imbalances happen in varying degrees to physical and sexual assault victims every day. The rarity of these types of stories actually disseminating through media into public consciousness gives the mistaken impression that these incidents are outliers.
 
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