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Washington State starting nose tackle Robert Barber has been expelled from school following a university investigation into his alleged role in a fight over the summer that occurred at an off-campus party. The brawl on July 23 left one student unconscious and another hospitalized with a fractured jaw, according to the Spokesman-Review.
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Barber, 22, will continue to practice while appealing the expulsion.
"I think they are in the (appeal) process," Washington State athletic director Bill Moos told the newspaper on Thursday.
The 6-foot-3, 305-pound Barber is a fifth-year senior from American Samoa who has started 15 career games for the Cougars at nose tackle.
Barber's expulsion comes as a result of a University Conduct Board investigation. Barber has not been arrested or charged and police are still investigating the brawl.
Washington State president Kirk Schultz and Moos met with the chief of the Pullman Police Department this week in the wake of comments coach Mike Leach made earlier this week implying that the police department was unfairly targeting football players.
"If the other guilty parties are not accused or charged, there needs to be an extensive investigation as to why," Leach said Tuesday. "How in the world can only football parties be guilty in events depicted like this? It is irresponsible to this town, this community and everybody to have some kind of a double standard where we only focus on one demographic, one group of people, and then drag their name through the newspaper with a bunch of irresponsible comments."
The incident was one of three involving Washington State football players in the last three months. Safety Shalom Luani was arrested in late August for second-degree assault, while linebacker Logan Tago was arrested Monday for second-degree assault and second-degree robbery in connection to a June incident.
