Butte faces more penalties

Last Saturday’s (Sept. 20) 51-6 trouncing of the Butte College Roadrunners by the San Mateo Bulldogs established the football team’s first losing record (1-2) in eight years, but ongoing off-field issues are arguably of greater concern to the school.

A woman who alleges she was raped by a football player at a 2012 off-campus party has authorized the release of information regarding her complaint to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) regarding the school’s handling of her case. The complaint spurred a still-active investigation by the OCR into how the college manages sexual assault investigations.

Jim McCabe, a Durham-based attorney for San Francisco law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP, represents the woman and said the OCR complaint was filed by his office in February 2013, after an investigation by Director of Student Services Al Renville—who also serves as the school’s Title IX compliance officer—determined the player needn’t be disciplined and was allowed to continue playing football. Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 mandates that schools receiving federal funds must investigate student claims of sexual violence.

The alleged victim filed a police report at the time of the incident, but McCabe said authorities could not gather enough evidence to pursue charges. Title IX requires accusations of sexual violence between students also be investigated by the school.

The woman’s complaint alleges the investigation was insufficient and biased, that the school failed to adequately protect her during the process and that the inquiry did not follow Title IX guidelines. It also asks that Butte designate at least one woman to investigate sexual violence reports, adopt Title IX-compliant procedures, reimburse the plaintiff for counseling costs and remove Renville from his Title IX duties.

McCabe said the extent of Renville’s inquiry was to question the alleged victim and attacker, four football players present at the party, and a coach who served as a character witness for the accused, but he did not interview the woman’s family or a rape counselor. He also said Renville refused to view text messages offered as evidence of the assault, alleging the administrator claimed he “could decide these things on his gut.”

McCabe said he was prompted to release the complaint details by a recent flap in which Brandon Banks, who faces felony charges related to a gang rape in Tennessee, appeared on the team’s roster. Banks, who had been expelled from Vanderbilt University over the charges, was subsequently booted from the Butte team Sept. 9 after his legal troubles were made public (see “Fumbling with felonies,” Newslines, Sept. 11).

Renville told the CN&R for that previous story that he’d been consulted by Athletics Director Craig Rigsbee regarding Banks’ academic eligibility while facing sexual assault charges in another state. He said he’d told Rigsbee Banks could attend Butte. He could not be reached for comment for this story.

“Butte College is now on notice that [Renville] has communicated through the media with every female member of the Butte College community that he is totally insensitive to their safety, and that he is indifferent to Butte’s compliance with Title IX, yet he remains the person to whom Butte’s female students must report rapes,” McCabe said.

McCabe said he and his client were also upset by Renville telling the CN&R he was “surprised” when the OCR announced in May that Butte College was still under investigation, and said the administrator should have been more aware of the details, as the OCR makes current case information available to both the complainant and the institution under scrutiny.

“If [Renville] was ‘surprised’ [with OCR’s announcement] on May 1, he could have picked up the phone and called on May 2 to find out exactly where the complaint stood.”

Butte College President Kimberly Perry contends this is not the case: “We had requested [a copy] when the complaint was filed in the spring of 2013, and OCR responded it’s not their practice to provide the complaint to institutions.”

Perry said the Butte administration was again denied details this past spring, and that Butte officials learned the full details only when Morrison & Foerster LLP released them on Sept. 22. Phone calls to the state and federal OCR offices regarding their procedures were not returned as of press time.

Perry praised Renville’s Title IX work: “Our priority has always been the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff,” she said. “Al Renville is a longtime Butte College employee and administrator, and he has upheld the finest standard of looking out for the benefit of our students, faculty and staff.”

There’s more to this story. An active Butte football player—safety Damariay Drew, a former UC Berkeley student and football player—currently faces felony assault charges in Alameda County following a May 4 incident in which he allegedly broke a fellow UC Berkeley student’s jaw and kicked the alleged victim’s dog at a frat house fundraising event. Drew remains indefinitely suspended from playing football at UC Berkeley, according to several news reports.

Perry said she is aware of Drew’s legal status, but that his presence on the team doesn’t violate the school’s Student-Athlete Code of Conduct, which states accused felons may play sports following an investigation into charges by Butte’s athletics director. She also claims it differs from the Banks case because, while Banks was expelled from Vanderbilt, Drew was not permanently banned from UC Berkeley

“Our understanding is he will be returning to Cal this spring,” she said.