College town grapples with recruiting scandal
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A woman who played football for University of Colorado says she was raped and harassed while on the team. CNN's Soledad O'Brien interviews the college president. (February 18)
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BOULDER, Colorado (AP) -- Nobel laureate Carl Wieman opened the newspaper and thought, "Not again." The University of Colorado was back in the news over the behavior of its athletes.
For three weeks, professors, students and residents have been hit with an almost daily barrage of accusations against Colorado's football program, including rapes, strip-club visits and alcohol-fueled sex parties for recruits. After a former kicker came forward to say she was raped by a teammate, the coach indelicately described her as a "terrible" player.
Wieman, a physics professor, said the furor over the football program has taken the focus away from more pressing issues, like the state's vulnerable higher education budget.
"Out of that program, we regularly have issues that embarrass the university," Wieman said. "That tells you that they occupy much too much importance. Something's fundamentally wrong."
The university is the liberal heart of this outdoorsy haven on the flanks of the foothills 30 miles north of Denver. While proud of its academics, the school has caused embarrassment for Boulder over the years.
In 2000, raucous off-campus parties turned into student riots. Princeton Review recently declared Colorado the No. 1 party school, based on its students' lack of studying and affinity for marijuana and booze.
The football program has brought in millions of dollars and the school won a national title in 1990. But it has a long history of scandal: In 1962, questions over whether recruits were paid to attend cost a coach his job. A Sports Illustrated cover story in the 1980s documented how players were accused of everything from drunken driving to serial rape. The school was slapped with NCAA sanctions two years ago for recruiting violations.
The latest scandal appears to be the worst yet and its roots date at least to 1997, when a 17-year-old high school student accused a football player of rape after a recruiting party.
No charges were filed, but three women have since sued the school, saying it fostered an environment that led to their rapes by football players or recruits at or just after an off-campus party in 2001.
Boulder County prosecutor Mary Keenan decided against assault charges but has said she believes the athletics program entices recruits with sex and alcohol -- an allegation denied by university officials but one that prompted a demand for action from Gov. Bill Owens.
Recruits treated differently?
University officials are looking into recruiting practices and are hiring a special assistant to oversee athletics, but the allegations have not stopped. A player admitted taking a recruit to a strip club, while a former recruiting aide said he used a school cell phone to call an escort service for his personal use.
On Tuesday, former kicker Katie Hnida, one of the first women to play college football, said she was raped by a teammate at Colorado four years ago.
While university officials urged Hnida, 22, to tell her story to police, coach Gary Barnett said he knew of no one who could back up her claim. Asked why she left Colorado after the 1999 season, he said: "Katie was not only a girl, she was terrible. ... There's no other way to say it."
Barnett's job security is a top subject of online chat rooms and radio talk shows. University President Elizabeth Hoffman said that she was dismayed by Barnett's comment and that "everyone's job is at risk."
Boulder has been abuzz with the scandal.
"I've always been much prouder of the fact CU won the solar decathlon than that CU had a winning football team," said Mayor Will Toor, also director of the University of Colorado Environmental Center.
Pam Penfold, a 1970 Colorado graduate who is now editor of CU's Coloradan magazine, said it is unfortunate that an "incident of college kids involving alcohol" has gotten more attention than the school's achievements.
"I don't mean to be paranoid, but it seems to me CU gets picked on when it's typical of every athletic department at every school in the country," she said.
Players, their parents and alumni say the media have blown the cases out of proportion and insist no sex parties are arranged for recruits.
Still, said former quarterback Bobby Pesavento, recruits are treated differently from other prospective students. "You're kind of put on a pedestal and people notice who you are," he said.
Wieman, who arrived at Colorado 20 years ago from the University of Michigan, remembers thinking it was ridiculous that Ann Arbor businesses would close during Wolverine football games. The year before he left for Boulder, Colorado lost nearly every football game.
"So I thought, 'Great! They can't possibly put so much emphasis on football,"' Wieman said with a laugh. "Little did I know."
Copyright 2004 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
