The mystery of Duke’s decision to dismiss junior guard Rasheed Sulaimon from the Blue Devils’ nationally ranked basketball team took a strange, disturbing twist today.
According to a report, published Monday in the Chronicle, the Duke student paper, that Sulaimon, who was jettisoned from the team Jan. 29, was alleged to have sexually assaulted two woman during the 2013-14 academic year.
According to the report, Sualmon was accused of sexual assault by two woman, who told others of the incidents but did not file complaints with the school’s Office of Student Conduct or the Durham Police Department. Reporters from the Chronicle spoke with an unnamed source who told them Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and the school knew about the allegations as early as March 2014– 10 months before Sulaimon was dropped from the team.
Later in the day, Krzyzewski, participating in an ACC coaches’ conference call, was asked four times whether he was aware of the report and whether he thought he handled it the right way. In all instances, Krzyzewski responded: “I don’t have any comment on that.”
The university cited student confidentiality law in a statement issued Monday.
“Duke is prohibited by law from disclosing publicly any particular student’s confidential education records,” the statement said. “The university takes immediate action when it receives reports of alleged sexual misconduct or other violations of the student conduct code, which includes investigation and referral to the Student Conduct Office for review in a timely manner as required by law. Duke also takes every possible action internally to ensure anyone who raises a complaint of sexual misconduct is supported and the campus community is safe.”
This has been a tough year for neighboring blue bloods on Tobacco Road. Earlier this academic year, UNC has been embroiled in a huge academic fraud scandal that involving multiple football and basketball players taking courses in the Afro-American studies program that stretched for close to two decades.
Sources close to the two women told the Chronicle that the women did not pursue school or legal action against Sulaimon because they feared reprisal from Duke’s fan base. “[The Jameis Winston sexual assault case reaction] would be the same from a fan base as large and as passionate as Duke’s,” an anonymous former affiliate with the Duke program, who was there for the majority of Sulaimon playing career, told the Chronicle, referring to the former Florida State quarterback, who was the subject of both a police investigation for alleged sexual assault in Fall 2013 and a university conduct hearing in Fall 2014. Winston did not face charges, and he was later found not in violation of the university’s code of conduct.
Neither accuser would discuss the allegations with the newspaper.
If a complaint is filed with the Office of Student Conduct, an investigation is conducted and a disciplinary hearing occurs if necessary. If a student is found responsible for sexual misconduct in a disciplinary hearing, the recommended sanction is expulsion. Even if a student chooses not to file a complaint, however, the University is legally obligated by Title IX to look into any indications of sexual assault. If the Office of Student Conduct receives information about a possible assault with a student perpetrator, the protocol is to investigate to whatever extent is possible, Wasiolek said.
Attempts to obtain a comment from Sulaimon were unsuccessful. A lawyer claiming to represent Sulaimon told the Chronicle he believed the allegations to be false.
Sulaimon is still a student in good academic standing at Duke, according to the newspaper.
The first allegation came in October 2013, according to the newspaper. A female student told a large group at a student-led diversity retreat called Common Ground that Sulaimon sexually assaulted her, according to three participants in the retreat. In February 2014, at a second Common Ground retreat, a second female student said she had been sexually assaulted by Sulaimon, four participants told the Chronicle. A source, described as a former affiliate of Duke’s basketball program during Sulaimon’s playing days, became aware of the allegation in fall 2013 and spoke to the accuser. The same person spoke to the second accuser after becoming aware of her allegations.
The source said the allegations were brought to the attention of a team psychologist in March 2014, and later that month they were brought to Krzyzewski, assistants Jeff Capel, Jon Scheyer and Nate James, and other athletic department officials, including athletic director Kevin White and Sue Wasiolek, assistant vice president of student affairs and dean of students.
“Nothing happened after months and months of talking,” the source told the Chronicle. “It should have been a long time ago. [Krzyzewski’s] never [dismissed a player] before,” the anonymous affiliate said. “I don’t think he knew where the line was. I think he really didn’t want to do it.”
Sulaimon averaged 7.5 points and 2.0 rebounds in 20 games for Duke this season, all of them in a reserve role. He was a starter during his freshman year in 2012-13, averaging 11.6 points per game.
