Vanderbilt Not Alone; Sexual Assault Allegations Arise at LSU
Allegations of sexual assault arose earlier this year against two former and one current Vanderbilt football players, causing a string of articles by Commodore Country and others where information from both victims and one accused shared their stories.
It was a black eye for Vanderbilt University. Still, now they are not alone as allegations have been made public this week, naming former LSU running back Derius Guice as the suspect in two alleged assaults that took place in 2016 while Guice, who is now in the NFL was a member of the Tigers football team.
According to the Sports Illustrated site, LSU Country, both the university president and Tigers head football coach Ed Orgeron have released public statements or appeared on local media outlets regarding the allegations.
The initial story came from an investigation by USA Today, causing both LSU and Orgeron to release statements.
While this is similar to the situation at Vanderbilt, where the alleged victims came forward years after the alleged incident, neither victim in the LSU case made any reports to any police agency with jurisdiction. At least one alleged victim in the Vanderbilt situation did report the incident to local authorities.
Accusations of a systemic problem of rape culture within the Commodores football program have been repeated since the allegations became public. Now with these allegations at LSU, perhaps we should look at it as more of a societal issue rather than something being perpetrated by on specific group.
These incidents occur regularly on college campuses where alcohol and teen hormones flow freely. While there is no excuse for these actions, ever, these same things happen equally as often in the adult world.
Rape, regardless of the setting, is a heinous crime and should be condemned and the guilty punished. However, at the same time, we should remember one caveat of our legal system that is there for each one of us.
That caveat, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
Follow Greg on Twitter @GregAriasSports and @SIVanderbilt or Facebook at Vanderbilt Commodores-Maven.
A 29 year veteran of radio in the Middle Tennessee area and 16 years in digital and internet media having covered the Tennessee Titans for Scout Media and TitanInsider.com before joining the Sports Illustrated family of networks.