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Weber State University has shelved a diversity event that would have showcased a former WSU student that has been charged with assault.
A documentary that premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival was scheduled to headline the "Polynesian NFL Pipeline" symposium.
The film, "In Football We Trust," followed several Polynesian football players then in high school, including the now 22-year-old Fihi Kaufusi, also known as Joemalone Tevita Kaufusi.
The former star lineman at Highland High School has pleaded not guilty in 2nd District Court to felony charges filed in March. They allege he choked and punched his then-girlfriend, using a shoe and a chain to assault her and breaking a car window in the process.
Kaufusi's attorney, Jason Widdison, on Friday declined to comment on the event cancellation or the pending legal case, but he suggested that attorneys are negotiating a plea deal.
"We're still working toward a resolution," he said. "I can't say anything further."
Weber State officers canceled the two-day program Friday afternoon after receiving emails from the alleged victim's family and other people, urging them not to show the documentary.
The 19-year-old alleged victim Keely Donnelly, who is taking a break from school to work as a nanny on the East Coast, took to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram on Thursday night, requesting that family and friends also write to the school.
"It would really hurt me and be a slap in the face if they showed this movie," she said, adding that Weber officials were quick to respond and cancel the program scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
Organizers of the Allen Holmes Diversity Symposium were unaware of the charges until Friday, said Weber spokeswoman Allison Hess. "In order to be sensitive to all involved and to the legal process," Hess said, "we decided to cancel the event at this time."
Hess added that the school "tries very hard to make sure this is a welcoming environment to everyone."
A freshman and professional-sales major who enrolled at Weber State in fall 2014, Kaufusi played rugby, a club sport, Hess said. He was not on the school's football team, Hess added, saying she did not know whether he had tried out.
He is no longer enrolled at WSU, following a disciplinary committee's review of the March charges, but Hess said she could not say whether he was suspended or expelled, citing student privacy rules.
"In Football We Trust" touches on immigrants' cultures, religion, poverty, race relations and gang life. The movie followed a handful of high school students for five years as they juggled identities as Polynesians, teenagers and football players.
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