Students were outraged that U. Michigan quarterback Shane Morris suffered a concussion mid game and was immediately put back into play, risking even further massive head trauma and potentially even death.

Scott Jaschik at Inside Higher Ed has the story:

Protests and controversy over how U. of Michigan responded to athlete’s concussion

University of Michigan students marched to the president’s home Tuesday to demand the firing of the athletic director amid a growing controversy over the university’s response — or rather, the lack of an immediate response — to a player’s concussion.

The university has now admitted that its quarterback, Shane Morris, likely suffered a “mild” concussion Saturday during a game. Despite visible symptoms of a concussion, he was reinserted into the game before being evaluated. Such an action is contrary to Michigan’s protocols and all medical recommendations designed to protect athletes’ health.

Anger over the incident has escalated since Saturday’s game, with students, alumni and others questioning whether the athletics department is being led in an appropriate fashion. On Tuesday, both the athletics director and president issued statements that admitted to serious problems in the response to Morris’s injury, but those statements have yet to assure student critics. Many say that initial statements from the football head coach suggest an attitude in which the risks of concussion are not taken seriously enough.

“There is no acceptable excuse for compromising player safety,” said an editorial today in the student newspaper, The Michigan Daily. The headline: “Too little, too late.”

Morris had an ankle injury in addition to the hit that caused the concussion Saturday, and Michigan officials at first suggested that they assumed his stumbling in a way that is seen as a concussion symptom was due to the ankle. But many fans in the stands (who reacted immediately with jeers to the decision to have Morris resume play) and many who were watching elsewhere immediately suspected a concussion. The injury came at a time of heightened awareness of the concussion risks associated with football at the college and professional levels.

Anger grew when, in a press conference Monday, the head football coach, Brady Hoke, dismissed concerns over the incident, saying, “We would never, ever put a guy on the field when there’s a possibility of head trauma. We won’t do that.”