UNC-Chapel Hill suspended men’s basketball player Zayden High from the university last semester after finding he violated the campus policy on sexual exploitation, according to documents and correspondence reviewed by The News & Observer and interviews of those involved in the case.
High filmed another student without the student’s consent during a sexual encounter between them last year, the student told The N&O. The N&O confirmed the student’s account of the incident through additional interviews with five people who had knowledge of the situation.
The student felt “validated” and “relieved” when UNC’s Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office found High responsible for violating the university’s policy on sexual misconduct in late August, she told The N&O. “Not that it made my pain from what happened go away, but it did make me feel like he was being held accountable,” the student said.
But in the months since the university issued the findings, the student said she has become increasingly concerned that the university has not ensured that High adequately followed the sanctions imposed upon him.
After serving a one-semester suspension in the fall — in which he was not allowed to be enrolled as a student at the university or participate in athletics — High reenrolled at the university this spring while remaining on probation for at least the duration of the semester. Per the terms of the sanctions issued to High by the EOC office for his misconduct, he is barred from representing the university in any way, including by participating in athletics, while on probation.
But during the probationary period, High has retained several perks that accompany being an athlete at the university, according to university correspondence about the issue reviewed by The N&O. That includes access to athletic facilities, where High has been allowed to practice on his own and receive athlete meals and other services.
High was also around several members of the basketball team on the court of the Dean E. Smith Center on at least one occasion while he was on probation, according to video evidence reviewed by The N&O. “It’s extremely frustrating, to say the least,” the student said. The N&O is not identifying the student, adhering to her wishes and the paper’s longstanding practice of not making public the names of victims of sexual misconduct.
The N&O is also shielding the identities of most sources who corroborated the student’s story in order to avoid the student inadvertently being identified through her relationships with those people.
The student did not press criminal charges against High, choosing instead to report the incident to the EOC office in an effort to retain her privacy, given that her identity may have become public through a police report or other legal documents.
Read more at: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article305387756.html#storylink=cpy
Read more at: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article305387756.html#storylink=cpy
