Reply #12: and to take it a step further

[toastbutter]

He has now been convicted of a crime. Misdemeanor assault. And she is the victim. Those facts are not in dispute. But clearly, she does not have the right WHILE ACTING IN HER CAPACITY AS A CHEERLEADER, to publically play out her displeasure for him. Of course she has a right to say bad things about him. Of course she has a right to write a blog about her feelings, etc. Of course she has a right to do all sorts of stuff to express her feelings about him. I don't think anybody denies that. It's a forum argument. She doesn't have a right WHILE ACTING IN HER "official" CAPACITY AS A CHEERLEADER to do so. The very purpose of a cheerleader is to ... ... ... cheer for her team. Clearly, it's a bad situation to be a cheerleader cheering for a team wherein you claim one of the members thereof raped you. But as long as it is not school district policy that misdemeanor assault is a disqualifyer for being a football player, the school is doing the right thing.

I would assume (I could be wrong) that if he was found guilty of rape, a felony, he would be disqualified from the team, so the whole issue never would have arisen. But the simple fact is - he was NOT. He is not a rapist, in the eyes of the school, or the eyes of the law. He *is* a rapist in her eyes, which is a different thing.