McGill Redmen football player Luis-Andres Guimont-Mota charged with assault was acquitted last Thursday and has been reinstated in the team. Guimont-Mota, Management student and running back for the Redmen football team was arrested in September 2014 after his then-wife accused him of domestic violence. According to the Global News, Guimont-Mota’s case was dropped when his then-wife did not show up to testify against him.
After Guimont-Mota’s arrest was made public in September, McGill administration issued a statement that he had been suspended from the team. The office of Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens later sent out a mass email to McGill students on Sept. 16, 2014, disclosing Guimont-Mota’s previous assault charge in 2010 without referring to him by name, and claiming he should not have been allowed to participate in the varsity sports team.
“This individual should not have been invited to join our team,” the message read. “That was not in accordance with the values of our community.”
The statement led to Redmen Head Coach Clint Uttley’s resignation, who said he could not work for an organization that does not embrace equity and inclusiveness.
“The […] statement does not represent my personal morals or values with regards to sport, recruiting, and life in general,” Uttley said at the time of his resignation.
Dyens said the university administration had communicated with the coaches and looked to make progress.
“We’re moving forward with Athletics,” he later told the Tribune. “We’re building a good system now for all involved, for the whole community.”
Dyens commented on Guimont-Mota’s acquittal and return to the team, saying that the suspension would be lifted.
“When we made the original statement, [it] said he shouldn’t have been recruited, but we did [recruit him],” Dyens said. “So now we’ve had a commitment to him, we’re going to honour that commitment [….] The charges for domestic abuse—he was suspended for those charges, not for the previous ones.”
In the Sept. 16 email, Dyens referred to previous incidents with McGill athletes, and said there would be in-depth reviews of rules and regulations governing participation in varsity sports. He elaborated on the process further.
“We’re reviewing the McGill varsity guide, to make clear [the] code of conduct,” Dyens said. “Athletes will be able to give their input [….] We’re also discussing [with] some coaches [on] principles on athletic eligibility, on what principles we can do that.”
Former Redmen quarterback Dallon Kuprowski commented on Guimont-Mota’s return to the team.
“I’m no longer involved, but I assume […] at this point he is just another varsity athlete who’s performing at McGill,” Kuprowski said. “[He] is expected to behave in a manner that falls in line with what McGill wishes to portray [and] what McGill expects of their student athletes.”
