MADISON, Wis. – Wide receiver Quintez Cephus will officially rejoin the Badger football team after UW-Madison announced he’s been readmitted to the university. It’s news that’s being met with both celebration and concern.
UW-Madison announced Monday it has reinstated former Wisconsin Badgers wide receiver Quintez Cephus to the university — a year to the day after he told his team he had to step down and face criminal charges.
President Trump has questioned the value of community colleges and suggested universities “restrict free thought.” Survey results in 2017 suggested typical conservatives have begun to share his dim view of higher ed. In a Pew survey, only 36 percent of Republican and GOP-leaning respondents said higher education had a positive effect on the direction of the country — a steep drop-off from responses only two years before.
The Marquette University Police Department will issue citations, with a fine of $86.20, for riding scooters on public sidewalks — enforcing an existing Milwaukee municipal ordinance.
“I understand why the decision was made,” said Erin Thornley Parisi, executive director of the Rape Crisis Center, noting that Cephus was acquitted in criminal court. “But that doesn’t change the impact that it might have on the survivors of the alleged crimes as well as other survivors on campus. It is painful for those who still believe that these women were sexually assaulted by him.”
UW-Madison announced its intention in June to remove the statue as part of its plan to redesign the Field House South Plaza.
According to the statement, UW applied its code of conduct impartially, regardless of who is involved.
Chancellor Rebbecca Blank noted in the statement the university recently received new information regarding the case that helped inform their decision.
“We are cognizant of how difficult this decision must have been given the competing perspectives on what constitutes fairness and justice in this case.”
The Badgers, who open their season Thursday at Central Florida, are ranked No. 16 in the preseason United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll.
Cephus was expelled after the 2018 fall semester after an investigation determined he had violated the school’s non-academic misconduct code. He was found not guilty earlier this month of one count of second-degree sexual assault of an intoxicated victim and one count of third-degree sexual assault.
Freedom of speech has been an integral principle in American jurisprudence since our country’s conception. Generally, it is an idea celebrated and protected, regardless of political affiliation. Heralded as one of our democracy’s central tenets, it would make sense for it to be continuously upheld.
UW Madison and Chancellor Becky Blank did the right thing by reinstating Quintez Cephus as a student after he was found not guilty of sexual assault changes.
Campus Free Speech Bill supports those who espouse hate speech more than those who disrupt it.
“The water table isn’t very deep to begin with,” said Jean Bahr, a professor of geology and geophysics at UW-Madison. “It doesn’t have to go up very much before you start having trouble.”
