Not everyone is happy about the recent signing of NFL quarterback Michael Vick to the New York Jets. A Change.org petition seeking to ban Vick from training camp is gaining momentum.
Although the Jets' 2014 training camp location has not been officially announced, four of the last five Jets training camps have been held at the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Cortland. In anticipation of the school hosting the team again, a petition was posted on Change.org calling for a campus-wide ban on Michael Vick.
In a request addressed to SUNY Cortland President Erik Bitterbaum, the petition asks that the college "send the message that we won't be party to the torture of animals by conveniently forgetting what [Vick] has done."
The petition details Vick's dog fighting past, and expresses disgust in the quarterback's perceived lack of remorse.
"He tortured more than fifty dogs," the petition reads, "attaching them to car batteries via jumper cables and throwing them into water to watch them drown, beating and hanging them, slamming their heads and spines into the ground until they died, setting them against each other in brutal fights, rendering them defenseless and using them as bait for training, and more.
"He is a monster and a disgrace, and has never once apologized. He has even admitted that he would continue to fight dogs if given the chance.
"If we welcome Vick onto our campus, we are complicit in his crimes. We are sending the message that, for money and publicity, we will turn a blind eye to the horrors of dogfighting. I don't want to be that person, and I don't want SUNY Cortland to abandon its principles so easily."
The petition has received over 1,700 signatures.
In 2007, Michael Vick was convicted of operating an interstate dog fighting ring, and sentenced to 23 months in federal prison. After his release, he played for the Philadelphia Eagles, before joining the Jets last month.
