The Essentials
1. Reggie Lynch, a senior basketball player for the University of Minnesota, is being suspended from the team and banned from the campus until 2020 in connection with a sexual misconduct investigation, the Star Tribune reports.
2. Lynch, a 23-year-old Edina native, transferred to the Gophers in 2015, and last season was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. In the spring of 2016, he was arrested in connection with a sexual assault report, but ultimately was not charged with a crime.
3. The incident he’s now being suspended for is a separate case, the Pioneer Press reports, though also took place in the spring of 2016, and allegedly in Lynch’s campus dorm room. (GoMN reached out to the U of M for comment but has not heard back.)
What Else You Should Know
As mentioned above, this is the second high-profile allegation of sexual misconduct against Lynch since transferring to Minnesota.
But it’s also the latest in a string of questionable incidents for the men’s basketball team around that time.
Prior to Lynch’s 2016 arrest and suspension, three players were suspended because of a sex video that was posted to social media. No charges were filed.
All told, six players were suspended or kicked off the team that season.
In March of 2017, the U of M rolled out a new plan it hopes will prevent sexual assaults on campus. It includes more education and training for staff and students, as well as the creation of a committee to address the issue.
Related:
– Colleges can raise the bar for proving sex assaults under new U.S. policy
A recent survey of female undergrads at the University of Minnesota found 23.5 percent of respondents reported being sexually assaulted (nonconsensual penetration or touching) since they enrolled at the university.
But it goes beyond the U of M.
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, as many as one in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college.
However, more than 90 percent of assault victims on college campuses do not report the assault – whether due to worry about reprisal, feeling it’s their own problem to deal with, or not wanting to get an offender in trouble.
If you’d like to get help or talk to someone about an assault, the National Sexual Assault Hotline is 1-800-656-4673.
