EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated from its original form to include an interview with the lawyer for the accusers.
Purdue University officials and the Tippecanoe County Prosecutor’s Office do not plan any further sanctions against four football players accused of sexual assault following an off-campus party earlier this semester.
Purdue Vice President for Strategic Communications Julie Rosa declined a taped interview but issued a statement Wednesday saying the players had been suspended from the team and the investigation was ongoing.
That’s despite the two female accusers in the case retaining Fishers-based lawyer Mario Massillamany, who’s calling for Purdue to expel the former players.
He says his client’s words were misconstrued when entered into a report filed with the West Lafayette Police Department.
“The statements in the report are inaccurate and they are not reflective of what occurred that night,” he says.
Massillamany says he hasn’t talked directly with Purdue officials, but has been learning about school judicial processes second-hand through his clients, who he says have been told expulsion is still possible for the football players.
However, expulsion is just one of many possible academic sanctions the Purdue student handbook lists as possible outcomes of a disciplinary proceeding, along with “degree deferral, suspension, probated suspension, disciplinary probation, written warning, restrictions, and/or educational sanctions.”
Athletics Department spokesman Tom Schott, who also declined a taped interview, says the players were suspended from the program by then-coach Darrell Hazell earlier this year.
Schott could not say exactly when the suspensions were administered, but says it was likely “soon after” the gathering on Oct. 13, when the accusers allege the players gave them alcohol and engaged in inappropriate or unwanted sexual behavior.