Ha ha ok. Neither of us know but you believe there was. Keeping LP around and playing him after a short 6 game suspension was proof nothing was evaluated. Christian Peter was suspended for one game after being convicted of sexual assault 2 years before the LP incident. So even if the 1996 and 1997 had fewer incidents, there were still some. And the crimes committed in those years were a whole lot more significant and damaging than smoking weed and skipping class.
With all due respect, that's complete BS. LP was kicked off the team by TO. But the athletic department sent him down to the Meininger Clinic in Kansas, which is sort of the Mayo Clinic for psychological issues. He was there from Monday following his Sunday attack on KM through the following Friday (at probably $10,000 + per day). The doctors there concluded that the best way to treat him was to put him on a rigorous plan of mental health treatment, with goals, both mental and academic, that he had to meet on a weekly basis. They also concluded that since football was the most important thing in his life, he had to be given the carrot of being allowed to return to the team for meeting all of his goals in the treatment plan. The clinic contacted TO and proposed the treatment plan, including the possibility of LP's returning to the team. TO initially rejected that possibility. The doctors tried again (I have been told by one person that they actually flew up to Lincoln to meet with TO but I haven't been able to confirm that anywhere else). After further discussions TO relented. He added several conditions of his own, including that LP was done at NU after that season and that after all other goals were met, LP had to meet with KM's entire family and get an ok from each one of them for his return. LP met all his goals (he actually met them before the Colorado game, but TO didn't want to return him for what the coaches considered would be the toughest/most important game of the season) and so was given the reward of being allowed to return to the team as promised.
BTW, a small University (forget the name, begins with a W) conducted a study following the 1995 season concerning the treatment by schools of football players convicted of assault against women the 1995 season. There were 17 D-1 players convicted of misdemeanor or felony assault (recall that LP was convicted of third degree misdemeanor assault). Two schools did not suspend the player at all. Iowa suspended their player for 1 game, but that was his last game as a senior, so that was all that he could be suspended. Thirteen schools suspended their players for either 2 or 3 games. NU was the only school that suspended their player for more than 3 games.
As for CP, again you are missing the important facts. After CP was convicted of sexual assault, as well as a number of other alcohol related crimes, he was ordered by TO to undergo psychological testing. It was determined that he had a problem with alcohol, but was not an alcoholic. That seems confusing, but after talking with a number of CP's friends, including 2 from high school, he basically had a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde personality, with alcohol bringing out the Mr. Hyde. So based on that evaluation, in order to stay on the team CP had to:
1. Stop using alcohol completely for the balance of the time he was at NU
2. Continue psychological counseling on a weekly basis with both University and private mental heath professionals.
3. Undergo random testing for alcohol and/or other illegal substances on a weekly basis for some period (I forget how long), switching over to once a month thereafter for as long as he was at NU.
4. Attend AA or a similar type of support group at least once a week.
5. Speak to school kids in Lincoln and Omaha about his issues and how to avoid them.
There were also a few other minor requirements that I forget. CP was also redshirted following his Prop48 year. The journalists I knew back then were uniformly confused by this. The ostensible reason was to work on CP's footwork and technique, and to get him to drop some weight. However, according to those who watched CP in practice, while he was raw, he was the best run-stopping D lineman we had. It turns out that the primary, although not exclusive, reason for the redshirt year was to make sure CP abided by all the requirements imposed on him for a year before allowing him to see the field.
Punishment under TO was always about much more than a public suspension. It was based more on identification and treatment of underlying problems. Sometimes that was successful, other times it wasn't. However, to base an opinion on whether matters were being "swept under the rug" based solely on how many games a player was suspended is absurd.
