Roughly one month ago, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski shocked many of us when he announced that junior guard Rasheed Sulaimon had been dismissed from the team as a result of recurring conduct issues. The most serious of those issues may have been allegations of sexual assault.
The Duke Chronicle reports that Sulaimon was accused of sexual assault roughly a year ago and that the Blue Devils were made aware of the allegations as early as March 2014. Two female students reportedly accused Sulaimon of sexual assault during the 2013-2014 academic year. Neither filed formal complaints nor took legal action.
The first, according to The Chronicle, allegedly revealed during a large group session on campus last year that Sulaimon assaulted her. During a similar session the following semester, a second female student claimed Sulaimon had also sexually assaulted her.
The accusations surfaced during Common Ground meetings on the Durham campus. Common Ground is a four-day retreat in which students discuss issues involving race, gender, sexuality and socioeconomic status. A team psychologist was reportedly made aware of the allegations last March and the information was passed on to Coach K and his staff later that month.
“Nothing happened after months and months of talking about [the sexual assault allegations],” an anonymous affiliate of Common Ground told The Chronicle. “The University administration knew. Kevin White knew, Mike Cragg knew.”
The source added that the alleged victims were deterred from taking legal action after seeing how the Jameis Winston sexual assault case unfolded at Florida State. Duke’s basketball fan base is just as passionate as the Seminoles’ football following, and perhaps the Duke students were concerned about authorities reacting the way police have been accused of reacting early in the Winston investigation.
Coach K had never dismissed a player from his program before, and he could now face pressure from those who feel he should have kicked Sulaimon off the team when the allegations first surfaced.
Sulaimon was reportedly kicked out of practice on more than one occasion this season, so it is probably safe to assume that more than just sexual assault accusations factored into his dismissal. There will likely be much more to come.
