THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 8, 1995 TAG: 9512080651
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Virginia Tech football player Tony Morrison was found guilty of ``using offensive and demeaning language'' instead of more serious charges for which he was accused, school records show.
Morrison was suspended in May after a female student accused him of raping her in his dorm room in September 1994. He was reinstated in August.
Tech officials recently released the previously confidential records after Morrison gave his permission, through attorney David Paxton. Tech Provost Peggy Meszaros, who overturned Morrison's two-semester suspension from school because she believed the punishment didn't fit the crime, this week held a two-hour, open-campus meeting in which she discussed details of the case with students and parents.
The chain of events that led to Morrison's reinstatement to school and the football team has caused considerable debate on campus. The student, Christy Brzonkala, who has left Tech, went public with her story last week. She claimed that Morrison, 19, a sophomore linebacker from Chesapeake, received preferential treatment because he was a football player.
Brzonkala said the incident occurred after she returned from a friend's off-campus apartment and accepted an invitation from Morrison, whom she did not know, to visit his dorm. Brzonkala also accused Morrison's roommate of assaulting her, but the University Judicial System exonerated him.
According to a statement released last week by Tech spokesman Larry Hinker, Meszaros overturned Morrison's suspension ``because it was not consistent with sanctions levied for similar offenses.''
In a letter dated Dec. 5 to faculty, staff and students, Meszaros disclosed that Brzonkala brought charges of sexual misconduct against Morrison in April, seven months after the alleged assault.
The university's account of the case said that in the first hearing of the Judicial System, in May, the hearing officers ``delivered findings under the auspices of the sexual misconduct clause'' of the abusive conduct policy. Morrison was suspended for two semesters, but won an appeal because ``sexual misconduct'' was not defined as an offense in the student handbook in September 1994.
At a second hearing, with Morrison and Brzonkala represented by attorneys, Morrison was found guilty of abusive conduct ``because of language used against Brzonkala,'' and again was suspended for two semesters.
Morrison appealed, and Meszaros agreed to review the case. On Aug. 21 - 17 days before Tech's first football game - Meszaros reduced Morrison's sanctions to ``deferred suspension,'' meaning the suspension would take effect immediately if found guilty of another offense by the Judicial System.
Brzonkala, 19, is back at her home in Fairfax, and said she plans to enroll at George Mason University in January. Brzonkala said she left Tech because she was afraid of running into Morrison.
``I never wanted to get any money out of it - from Tech or from Tony,'' she said. ``I just wanted him out of school so I could go there.''
Brzonkala said she told no one of the incident for four months, and was not comfortable going public until now.
``I just can't let it go'' she said. ``He's living his life like he wants to, and I'm suffering.''
Jim Morrison, Tony's father, said: ``We still have Tony's confidentiality at stake and he cannot make a statement. There is a lot that hasn't been said.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Virginia Tech records show that Tony Morrison wasn't found guilty of
a more serious offense.
by CNB