I have a lot of mixed feelings on this mess. On the McCombs thing,it seems a little late in the game to be rehashing that. As best I can recall, there was not even a court date, and in fact, UConn Police haven't exactly been lenient in arresting athletes for this kind of thing, nor have prosecutors been inclined to just drop them. Also, this shouldn't be conflated into the other matter of the alleged rape by an unnamed football player. yes, Pasqualoni should have benched him for the game, but given the aftermath, ie no charges and unlike, say Wolf, no community service or anger management or anything, I'm not sure much more could or should have been done.
On the other hand, it seems clear to me that Herbst has done a horrible job on this matter. Not the first time she has been tone deaf, but maybe the most serious. Despite her "I was misunderstood" claims, she wasn't. She said what she said and it was pretty clear. Suck it up, Suzy. Admit you screwed up and then say you are getting together your top team to look into how these things are handled, and what ought to be done to address the culture at UConn that causes women to feel unsafe. (Just a side note to Ms Palazzo, use women and men, not boys and girls if you want to increase your credibility). She also ought to fire her supposed Public relations advisor who has done an absolutely terrible job of advising.
Finally, I am sure this issue is not limited to UConn. One need only have listened to the Congressional hearings a few weeks ago about women and assault in the military, or read reports about several other schools like Amherst and Wesleyan to get that this is an issue in lots of places.
