[TrumpCard]

If UM were to back down in any way from the proposed punishments of the 10 accused players, it would look like a capitulation to the boycott.  And this is not about "a gross error in judgment."  These aren't just football suspensions, they are expulsions and year-long suspensions from the university.  That clearly implies a finding of sexual assault by the university's investigative process.  The university first needs to be a place where ordinary students want to go to college.  I would not want to send my daughters to a school that gave unprincipled leniency to perpetrators of sexual assault.  So the university is not going to meet the demands of the football team, period.

The question is:  How will the university respond to the boycott, assuming it goes forward?  If the university revokes scholarships of the boycott participants, that will be the end of football at UM, at least for while.  Everyone will transfer and the program will have to start over, if that's even possible.  If the university thinks it can hold the football team together, I could imagine a decision to pardon the boycott participants.  Yes, the university will lose a lot of money, and yes, it sets a bad precedent, but the alternative may be worse.  I imagine that some players will transfer even if they have the option to stay on scholarship, but enough would probably stay to make it possible to rebuild instead of start over. 

[TrumpCard]

If UM were to back down in any way from the proposed punishments of the 10 accused players, it would look like a capitulation to the boycott.  And this is not about "a gross error in judgment."  These aren't just football suspensions, they are expulsions and year-long suspensions from the university.  That clearly implies a finding of sexual assault by the university's investigative process.  The university first needs to be a place where ordinary students want to go to college.  I would not want to send my daughters to a school that gave unprincipled leniency to perpetrators of sexual assault.  So the university is not going to meet the demands of the football team, period.

The question is:  How will the university respond to the boycott, assuming it goes forward?  If the university revokes scholarships of the boycott participants, that will be the end of football at UM, at least for while.  Everyone will transfer and the program will have to start over, if that's even possible.  If the university thinks it can hold the football team together, I could imagine a decision to pardon the boycott participants.  Yes, the university will lose a lot of money, and yes, it sets a bad precedent, but the alternative may be worse.  I imagine that some players will transfer even if they have the option to stay on scholarship, but enough would probably stay to make it possible to rebuild instead of start over.