Landon Rice's college football career never got off the ground at Auburn and, now, information has come to light that he will be banned from the university's campus. Rice, a top-150 recruit from the Class of 2016, left the program and the school months ago but, on Tuesday, AL.com brought to light that Rice has been found "responsible for sexual assault" for an incident that took place in April 2016 and that will keep him away for seven years.
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"Although (Rice) claims that he assumed he had affirmative consent, the investigators found that the (female accuser) explicitly told (Rice) she did not want to engage in vaginal intercourse," according to the university's Notice of Outcome letter, provided to AL.com by a source who requested anonymity.
Rice, whose appeal of the decision was denied in a Notice of Final Outcome on Dec. 2, 2016, was found in violation of Auburn University's Policy on Sexual and Gender-based Misconduct based on the preponderance of evidence in the investigation. He left the school in September and was suspended immediately "with eligibility to return under disciplinary probation in Fall semester 2024" and prohibited from being on campus, attending any university events or taking any courses on campus or through "distance education," the Notice of Outcome states.
This information stems from a Title IX investigation of Rice and, of course, it is a brutal takeaway. This issue will now follow him to any other continuing education but, if true, that is simply a subplot of an even more terrible event.