Michael Vick may have thought that the dog fighting scandal may be over, but a petition from SUNY Cortland students proves that people have not forgotten. The petition is hoping to keep Vick from attending New York Jets training camp at the university because of the scandal.
The Jets signed Vick last month after the Philadelphia Eagles declined to re-sign him. While the Jets will be practicing at SUNY Cortland, students don’t want to see the newest quarterback there.
The petition, titled “Disallow Michael Vick from the Cortland Campus,” has earned over 1,600 signatures already.
“Vick has served a short sentence for bankrolling a dogfighting conspiracy, but animal cruelty charges were dropped in return for his guilty plea. This does not mean, however, that his crimes should be forgotten,” the petition reads.
As The New York Daily News notes, Vick did plead federal dogfighting conspiracy in 2007 and served 19 months in prison.
The petition suggests that if Vick is allowed on campus, “we are complicit in his crimes,” adding, “We are sending the message that, for money and publicity, we will turn a blind eye to the horrors of dogfighting.”
The Jets and SUNY Cortland haven’t commented on the petition, which was addressed to university president Erik J. Bitterbaum.