ALTOONA, Pa. -- Winston and Strawn, LLP., the same firm that sued Stanford University over cutting athletic programs, has engaged Robert Morris in regard to the university cutting its men's and women's ice hockey teams last month.
Lead counsel Jeffrey Kessler is acting on behalf of a group of student-athletes that made up the hockey teams at the university, according to the letter obtained by DK Pittsburgh Sports. It's the same approach the firm took against Stanford, which had the sports reinstated last month.
The letter, while not a lawsuit, puts pressure on the university to make a move before it gets to the point of legal action. The coalition and firm have standing to take it to that level, based on a multitude of factors that Robert Morris used to reach the decision to cut the programs.
"While publicly touting the laudable achievements of its hockey teams, privately, the University was apparently preparing to make the student-athletes on these teams the casualties of a covert plan to eliminate their programs," Kessler said in the letter. "This secrecy induced the student-athletes to believe that their teams would continue, and they relied upon this misrepresentation in making their decisions to attend the University in the first place, as well as to remain at the school without seeking a possible transfer."
According to the letter, the University's concealment of its decision to shut down the programs is a fraudulent misrepresentation, under Pennsylvania law. The law states that "to be actionable, a misrepresentation need not be in the form of a positive assertion but is any artifice by which a person is deceived to his disadvantage and may be by false or misleading allegations or by concealment of that which should have been disclosed."
Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert resignation from the school's board of trustees as a result of the decision to eliminate the programs after a decision made by board chair Morgan O'Brien as well as university president Chris Howard rather than a discussion allows not only for the firm to seek misrepresentation but also liability should the university's by-laws have been violated as a result of the lack of a vote.
The concealment and misrepresentation is one of the two lawsuits Kessler launched against Stanford prior to its decision to reverse course. The other was a Title-IX lawsuit that claimed Stanford was discriminating against female athletes by cutting female sports.
Both lawsuits asked the court for an injunction that would have prevented the university dropping the sports until all student-athletes at the time their sport was dropped had completed their eligibility. That is significant in the case for Robert Morris, as the letter states that while the university had stated publicly that all student-athletes in both programs would be allowed to continue their studies at Robert Morris, there had been moves made behind the scenes to force students to graduate early, which also included enrolling those students in summer classes without any prior knowledge or consent.
Kessler and his counsel are no stranger to this sort of thing, having represented Brown in a suit against restrictions on student-athletes' income, which was brought before the Supreme Court a week ago. A decision has allowed student-athletes to earn income, based on their name, image and likeness.
Robert Morris does not have the financial backing or alumni network that Stanford or Brown do, but the hockey community has rallied around the programs in hopes of bringing them back. That support has included Murry Gunty, CEO of Black Bear Sports, who had discussed the purchase of the Island Sports Center, but was faced with non-disclosure agreements that made it nearly impossible for any tangible discussions or progress to be made.
There is also a Go Fund Me that has pledges totaling $427,000, with the goal of reaching $10 million over five years.
As of now, the coalition is focused on engaging in amicable discussions regarding the reinstatement of the programs, but will use their legal rights should that not happen.
Robert Morris officials could not be reached for comment.
More to come.
