What's new
AllBuffs | Unofficial fan site for the University of Colorado at Boulder Athletics programs

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • Prime Time. Prime Time. Its a new era for Colorado football. Consider signing up for a club membership! For $20/year, you can get access to all the special features at Allbuffs, including club member only forums, dark mode, avatars and best of all no ads ! But seriously, please sign up so that we can pay the bills. No one earns money here, and we can use your $20 to keep this hellhole running. You can sign up for a club membership by navigating to your account in the upper right and clicking on "Account Upgrades". Make it happen!

Key CU Buffs player suspended for the season

I absolutely against racial slurs and if racial slurs were used, I'd think those individual would be disciplined as well and maybe they were.

I don't know about the other douchebag who has a tendency to get his ass beat, but racial slurs were used.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I would think that the proceedings at CU are discoverable by the DA. That makes defending oneself in the proceedings a much more difficult task. I wonder to what extent Josh was able to mount an aggressive defense, or was allowed to by his attorney, with the criminal charges still hanging over his head. Is this a concern?

Does anyone know what format the CU inquisition takes? Is the standard reasonable doubt or preponderance of evidence? If the standard is preponderance of evidence, it seems very difficult to disprove a claim without the accused testifying. Viewed from the outside, a CU inquisition on a matter that occurred off campus and still has potential criminal implications seems patently unfair to Josh, truly un-American, an intrusion in regards to his basic civil right about testifying against himself. But then, it's a University campus, so who cares about the individual rights of an accused male.
 
Last edited:
Also, there was a similar situation at Oregon with their basketball players. 3 players allegedly raped a girl, DA never brought charges, witnesses said nothing illegal happened but they were still kicked out of school.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah that was probably a worse overreaction than this situation. The chick blew the guy the next morning when she was sober after she was "so traumatized" from being raped. Sounded like she did some dumb **** when she was wasted and wanted to just blame someone other than herself.
 
This will not effect recruiting. I think some OSU are blowing that aspect of it out of proportion. Of course, Our recruiting can't get much worse anyway.

I'm not sure about that, DBT. If a family has been living in Colorado since the Barnett/fake scandal era, they've sure seen a consistent pattern of the school throwing the players/program under the bus. It might not effect out of state recruiting as much.
 
It may be an issue that the Regents need to get involved with. There is clearly a disproportionate application of the rules in this case. That, in my mind, is cause for the leadership body of the University to step in and investigate why Tupou received a harsher punishment than somebody else in the same situation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm not sure if there is anyone like a union steward on campus that can help to represent and play devils advocate for student athletes in a case like this. But it appears to me that someone wanted to play judge, jury, & executioner without considering all of the evidence. Who would/could approach the Regents to re-evaluate the way punishments are determined? Coach Mac? Rick George? And how high would the regents put it on there priority list? :wow:
 
I'm not sure about that, DBT. If a family has been living in Colorado since the Barnett/fake scandal era, they've sure seen a consistent pattern of the school throwing the players/program under the bus. It might not effect out of state recruiting as much.

Its used strongly by our opponents. "Boulder is beautiful but the femi-nazis that run it are anti-football and you will be targeted". It is a very political situation.

I've heard the pitch personally in the living room many times from places like CSU, NU, ASU etc, albeit 2-5 years ago.
 
I'm sure a lot of things are said in those recruiting living rooms but how does this over all effect recruiting? It may slightly effect in state but I'm with Big Al on this one, kids need to leave home as much as I would like Kemp he should experience something else especially when it's not going to cost him much. Anyway this is a terrible situation the D line loss hurts but you can't hit people no matter what was said. I would like to now how the athletic department helped Josh and also the fate of the other student, he and Josh should have the same fate. Winning or losing the fight has no bearing.
 
I would think that the proceedings at CU are discoverable by the DA. That makes defending oneself in the proceedings a much more difficult task. I wonder to what extent Josh was able to mount an aggressive defense, or was allowed to by his attorney, with the criminal charges still hanging over his head. Is this a concern?

Does anyone know what format the CU inquisition takes? Is the standard reasonable doubt or preponderance of evidence? If the standard is preponderance of evidence, it seems very difficult to disprove a claim without the accused testifying. Viewed from the outside, a CU inquisition on a matter that occurred off campus and still has potential criminal implications seems patently unfair to Josh, truly un-American, an intrusion in regards to his basic civil right about testifying against himself. But then, it's a University campus, so who cares about the individual rights of an accused male.

This is a deal with the office of student judicial affairs and the honor council. As others have said it's a kangaroo court. It's ****ing stupid. I almost got screwed my sophomore year for suspected academic dishonesty, cuz some kid was able to back track on a computer into my file and copy some code for a computer project. I was facing an f in the class and expulsion with nothing to defend myself but my word. The professor had already determined that I was guilty in her mind and told me it is on me to convince her and the honor council otherwise. It was complete bull****. Lucky for me the trial never happened cuz the other party flunked the rest of his classes and dropped out, but still the honor council is a farce and it is combative towards the students it claims to protect
 
Having slept on it through the weekend, The he was a racist who deserved it defense probably shouldn't work. From a fan perspective I wish it would, and I certainly think the punishment is excessive. Who appoints this court?

I once had a similar thing go down and a Denver cop looked out for me. I look back at that and think how incredibly lucky I was to have the right officer that night, and how badly my life could have been screwed up.
 
Last edited:
Its used strongly by our opponents. "Boulder is beautiful but the femi-nazis that run it are anti-football and you will be targeted". It is a very political situation.

I've heard the pitch personally in the living room many times from places like CSU, NU, ASU etc, albeit 2-5 years ago.

NO! That can't happen! I was told so, when I raised the issue of Cali's tough new "no means no" crappola law ( that makes every male student guilty until proven innocent of a sexual assault), as a recruiting tool.

You can look it up!
 
For sure. And I blame Tupou to the extent of what he did wrong. He got in a fight off campus and the Boulder DA didn't pursue criminal charges. Only at CU does this result in him getting suspended for a year.

Punishment that fits the crime: some extra conditioning, maybe some community service, and maybe -- if HCMM wanted to be considered a hard ass -- being suspended for the entire Hawaii game and not making that trip. We're talking about a student athlete here who was never reported to be in any kind of incident for his first 2 1/2 years on campus (not even academic). You don't throw a guy like that under the bus...

... and if you give a **** about your football program, you don't throw a much worse guy under the bus for this type of incident.

Seriously. We all watch and read a lot about college sports. How often do we hear that a player is suspended for a season for getting in a fight that doesn't involve criminal charges being pursued? I can't think of one. This **** doesn't happen other places. CU makes things so hard on itself. Another case of self-inflicted damage to the program. Hurts this season and it's the type of thing that makes coaches reluctant to come here.
there are players on a half a dozen teams in the past with "serious" charges - rape, theft, assault, etc...that don't even sacrifice a game. Or even a half in a game? Oh, those same teams a winners. go figure. This just points out where one of CU's problems are when it comes to fielding a winning team.
 
there are players on a half a dozen teams in the past with "serious" charges - rape, theft, assault, etc...that don't even sacrifice a game. Or even a half in a game? Oh, those same teams a winners. go figure. This just points out where one of CU's problems are when it comes to fielding a winning team.
Is that what you/we want? Allow kids to get away with anything? Rhetorical question. No we don't. The problem is, or the thing is, the judicial affairs group treats all students the same. The BIG problem in this case, to me, is that Joe Blow student wouldn't have been snitched on to the BPD or CUPD. What I'd like to know is what the Judicial Affairs people knew. What did they base their decision on? If Joe Blow did go to a party and knock another kid out and happened to get turned in, he'd also get suspended. That's the rule.

Awini and Lee were also cited for third degree assault (Topou was cited for 2nd and two 3rd degree assaults). As far as I know, they haven't been suspended so that leads me to believe three was something more serious in Josh's case. The affidavits said he hit the Therrault kid several times, breaking his nose and cheek, kicked another guy in the crotch and punched another guy. That's not good. This sucks for sure.
 
Last edited:
NO! That can't happen! I was told so, when I raised the issue of Cali's tough new "no means no" crappola law ( that makes every male student guilty until proven innocent of a sexual assault), as a recruiting tool.

You can look it up!

I think you should email Mike Mac right quick and let him know how to beat out the Cali schools for recruits!
 
I have chewed on this a lot over the weekend and here are my thoughts:
-This can't be an isolated incident if Tupou is receiving a full season suspension
-Tupou deserves some blame. A lot of people deal with race and other issues in manners other than violence.
-Sounds like from some sources he was worried about parties and drinking as much or more so than football
-There is fighting and then there is assault. Destroying someone smaller than you only shows you can't be okay with just knocking them out but doing serious harm.

As John Fox woulda say, next man up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
NO! That can't happen! I was told so, when I raised the issue of Cali's tough new "no means no" crappola law ( that makes every male student guilty until proven innocent of a sexual assault), as a recruiting tool.

You can look it up!

Listen just because someone called you an idiot doesn't mean what ever was said wanst true.
 
Josh and the other kid need to hug it out, shake hands and apologize to each other. On camera of course, and get this situation going the other direction. Turn a - into a +.
 
Should we assume this is over and done with, or does anyone know if pressure is being put on the administration to reconsider?
 
Should we assume this is over and done with, or does anyone know if pressure is being put on the administration to reconsider?


We should assume it is over and done. I think the pressure was placed before the final decision was made.
 
It has nothing to do with the administration (I assume you mean the chancellor's office). It is the student review board, the decisions of which are not subject to review by the administration


Typed with thumbs.
 
That's a dumb system, kids often have their heads up their collective asses, especially in groups.
 
41c52be2f21d94dd493e81828ebcaa5f.jpg


Let's quit making excuses for someone with a drinking/partying problem and move on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I think it's time to challenge the Student Review Board and it's role at a state university.

Serious question, and not just related to athletics.

How well would the student revue board hold up to a solid legal challenge in the courts.

You have an independent body which apparently lacks specific qualifications and oversight making decisions which will impact kids the rest of their lives. What are their standards, where is the appeal process, what are the guarantees of due process and of transparent decision making.

Is there an accessible record of prior cases so students and their legal representatives can look for similar cases and call for consistent judgments based on similar facts.

The degree of severity of the punishments handed down bring the system into a place where a solid revue of their role makes sense.
 
Is there an accessible record of prior cases so students and their legal representatives can look for similar cases and call for consistent judgments based on similar facts.

The degree of severity of the punishments handed down bring the system into a place where a solid revue of their role makes sense.

FERPA would prevent any third party from having access to a student's academic or disciplinary records without that student's consent.
 
FERPA would prevent any third party from having access to a student's academic or disciplinary records without that student's consent.

Which I would argue then means that in what is a de facto legal proceeding considering the power that the Student Review Board holds in matters that have significant short and long term impacts on the students lives that they are denying them due process by not being able to see how the rules are applied in various circumstances and not able to present a credible defense.

You have persons who are not state employees and have limited accountability to the state telling people that they cannot attend the state educational institution to which they have been admitted, attended, and are otherwise in good standing with.
 
Which I would argue then means that in what is a de facto legal proceeding considering the power that the Student Review Board holds in matters that have significant short and long term impacts on the students lives that they are denying them due process by not being able to see how the rules are applied in various circumstances and not able to present a credible defense.

You have persons who are not state employees and have limited accountability to the state telling people that they cannot attend the state educational institution to which they have been admitted, attended, and are otherwise in good standing with.

But it's not a legal proceeding, de facto or otherwise. No one is going to jail or being ordered to pay damages as a result of the office's decision. Also, no one has an inalienable right to attend the University of Colorado or be a member of its football team. If you violate the University's student conduct code, which Tupou did, then he is not in good standing and is subject to disciplinary action. Look, I get it, it sucks because he was going to be a huge part of our defense. But this is a pretty common procedure at almost every university and while I agree that the punishment was harsh, it was his actions led to this decision and he is ultimately responsible for them.
 
Back
Top