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EUGENE, Ore. >> The University of Oregon has come under intense scrutiny this week after three men’s basketball players — including one who transferred from Providence, Rhode Island, after being accused of sexual assault there — were investigated by the Eugene police in connection with rape allegations by an Oregon student.
The three members of the Oregon basketball team — Brandon Austin, Damyean Dotson and Dominic Artis — are “not participating in team activities” after the allegations, said Julie Brown, the university’s director of communications. She declined to say whether the university was investigating.
Austin sat out last season after transferring from Providence, where he had been suspended pending an investigation into sexual assault accusations by a fellow student, according to The Wall Street Journal. Dotson and Artis appeared in the Ducks’ two games in the NCAA tournament.
The more recent sexual assault allegations were detailed in a graphic 24-page police report, first reported by The Oregonian. The accuser told the police that she met Austin, Dotson and Artis at a party March 8. She said they assaulted her three times over the course of the night. She said that she repeatedly said no and that alcohol inhibited her ability to fight back.
The three men have said the sex was consensual, the Lane County district attorney’s office said.
When asked if she wanted to press charges, the accuser initially told the police that she was concerned about ruining the men’s lives, although she later asked that charges be filed, according to the police report. The police were first called by the accuser’s father after he learned of the incident, the report said.
On April 14, the Lane County district attorney’s office decided not to prosecute the case, saying in a report that “while there is no doubt the incidents occurred, the conflicting statements and actions by the victim make this case unprovable as a criminal case.”
Alex Gardner, the Lane County district attorney, said in a statement late Tuesday: “From time to time, additional evidence becomes available after an initial no-file. When that happens, the evidence is reviewed and, if sufficient, a case may be revived and prosecuted.”
University President Michael Gottfredson said in a statement Monday: “I am deeply troubled by the information contained in the police report released yesterday by the Eugene Police Department. The university has rigorous internal conduct processes that we follow when we receive a report such as this, as well as legal processes and a moral commitment to our students. We share a responsibility to provide a safe learning environment for our students, a responsibility I take very seriously.”
