CHAMPAIGN (WCIA) — Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman spoke for the first time publicly about Terrence Shannon Jr.’s arrest following a rape charge in Kansas, suspension from all team activities and what’s next during a press conference at State Farm Center before the Illini faced Fairleigh Dickinson Friday night. During his 35 minutes at the podium, Whitman detailed the timeline of events leading up to Shannon Jr. turning himself in to authorities in Douglas County, Kansas on Thursday.
“The University, our athletic program of course take this matter incredibly seriously,” Whitman said. “I want to state unequivocally that we have zero tolerance at this university, across the University of Illinois system and within DIA for sexual misconduct. It is antithetical to our mission as an educational institution to grow, develop, prepare young people. As I’ll explain, we’ll continue to demonstrate our commitment to this value through our policies, our actions. When we learn of alleged behavior of this variety, we will act in a way that is both timely and appropriate. At the same time, we also have to understand that we respect due process and we understand that when allegations arise, especially allegations like these that are criminal in nature, the presumption of innocence continues to apply.”
Whitman said he was made aware, along with the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and University of Illinois Police Department, back in late-September that Shannon Jr. was being interviewed by authorities in Kansas.
“The inquiry was light on details,” Whitman said. “We didn’t know at the time whether Terrence was the subject of the inquiry or whether he might of been a witness to some other matter, it was very short on specifics.”
Whitman added he immediately had a conversation with Shannon Jr. about his weekend in Kansas watching the Illini football team face the Jayhawks but, “nothing he shared with us triggered any cause for us to institute any disciple or take any action.”
Shannon Jr. obtained his own council thereafter, according to Whitman, who added the allegations seemingly occurred in public in a Lawrence bar, where Shannon Jr. interacted with a young woman, allegedly engaging in “inappropriate touching” of her. Whitman added he only received verbal updates from authorities in Lawrence, via UIPD, and that nothing showed up in the form in writing.
A formal complaint, obtained by WCIA 3 on Thursday, was filed on Dec. 5 but a warrant wasn’t issued for an arrest until Dec. 27. Whitman says he wasn’t aware of the 22 days in-between, only finding out a warrant had been issued on Wednesday mid-afternoon. Wednesday was also the first time Whitman says he found out the charge was labeled as felony rape, according to Kansas law. That triggered a “major offense” according to the DIA student-athlete misconduct policy. A Student-Athlete Conduct Panel will handle the suspension process moving forward, made up of three active members: one Faculty Athletics Representative, one representative from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, and one faculty member from the College of Law.
“Up until Wednesday, we didn’t have any concrete information that we felt justified any sort of change in Terrence’s status,” Whitman said, when asked if he considered holding Shannon Jr. out prior to this week.
Shannon Jr. traveled to Douglas County, Kansas on Thursday, where he turned himself in, posted a $50,000 bail and was released, before returning to Champaign. His first court date is set for Jan. 18 at 3 p.m. Further questions from WCIA to the District Attorney’s office in Douglas County (KS) were not answered, specifically why the warrant wasn’t issued until three weeks after the formal complaint was filed.
At the time of his suspension, Shannon Jr. was second in the Big Ten in scoring, averaging 21.7 points per game. The reigning First Team All-Big Ten guard turned down an opportunity to go pro to return to Illinois this season, after testing the NBA Draft waters earlier this year. The potential All-American candidate is regarded as one of the best players in not only the conference but in college basketball this season.
“Obviously an incredibly unfortunate situation on so many different levels. We’ve all enjoyed watching Terrence play this year, we’ve enjoyed seeing our team compete but in moments like this we have to understand that basketball must take a back seat,” Whitman said. “We have an obligation here as a university to take allegations such as these incredibly seriously, which we are doing and have done. Sexual misconduct has no place on this campus or on any other campus for that matter. Our priority is the well-being of the people who are involved and we’ll handle the situation with great care, appropriate diligence and concern.”
Whitman told Illinois head coach Brad Underwood about what was going on immediately after practice on Wednesday, noting Underwood had nothing to do with the decision to indefinitely suspend Shannon Jr., who is still on scholarship at the school but is banned from all team activities.
