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PRICE — Utah State University-Eastern administrators Wednesday lifted sanctions against all but two players on the men's basketball team as campus police continue an investigation into an alleged rape in one of the school's residence halls.
"As of about 2 p.m., the suspension of the men's basketball (team) and activities was lifted," USU-Eastern Vice Chancellor Greg Dart said. "They held their first workout since reinstatement this afternoon."
That decision came after several weeks of investigation into allegations that a female student was drugged and sexually assaulted on Sept. 4.
A student unknown to the victim called school officials a few hours after the alleged assault to report it to authorities. Counselors from the school talked with the victim, and she went to the hospital that same day.
The victim told the Deseret News she believed she'd been drugged because she had no memory of that night. She also said a female friend who lived in the residence hall where the alleged assault occurred offered her a drink that night.
"Me and her are really good friends, so I didn't think anything of it," she said. "I remember one thing after that, and everything else after that is black — like nothing."
Team activities were suspended Sept. 11. Dart said information police shared with school officials led to the change in suspensions.
"Based on the information that had come up in the investigation, it became clear that we were at a point where we could reinstate the team and basically take any cloud of suspicion off of completely innocent players," he said.
In addition to the two male players who remain suspended from team and athletic activities, the school suspended a female basketball player from working with the women's program.
The three athletes are not suspended from school.
"There have not been any school sanctions done as we're still awaiting the results of one of two investigations — the police investigation or the Title IX investigation," Dart said.
He said he expects police to take their case to the Carbon County attorney next week, while the Title IX report could come a few weeks after that.
"Based on that, we'll make a determination as to what, if any, additional sanctions would be merited," Dart said. Email: adonaldson@deseretnews.com Twitter: adonsports
