From Chancy Nancy | Syracusefan.com

From Chancy Nancy

BlackKnight76

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"Dear Students, Faculty & Staff,

Last night, we were contacted by an ESPN television reporter regarding allegations dating back to the 1980’s and 1990’s that Associate Head Men’s Basketball Coach Bernie Fine had engaged in inappropriate behavior with a minor, now 39. Following the terrible news that came out of Penn State in the last several weeks, this is clearly distressing to all of us in the Syracuse University community. The news is already being covered widely by the media.

I want to tell you what we know and what we are doing about it.

First, as has been announced, Bernie Fine has been placed on administrative leave pending a new investigation by the Syracuse Police Department. He has vehemently denied the allegations and should be accorded a fair opportunity to defend himself against these accusations.

As we have communicated publicly in response to media inquiries, in 2005, Syracuse University was contacted by an adult male who asserted that he had reported allegations in 2005 of abuse in the 1980’s and 1990’s to the police. That same individual told us that the Syracuse City Police had declined to pursue the matter because the statute of limitations had expired.

On hearing of the allegations, the University immediately launched its own comprehensive investigation through its legal counsel. The nearly four-month-long investigation included a number of interviews with people the individual said would support his claims. All of those identified by him denied any knowledge of wrongful conduct by the associate coach. At the end of the investigation, as we were unable to find any corroboration of the allegations, the case was closed. Had any evidence or corroboration of earlier allegations surfacedeven if the Police had declined to pursue the matterwe would have acted.

As of last night, we became aware that the Syracuse Police have determined to open an investigation, and we will cooperate to the fullest extent with their review of the matter.

Let me be clear. We know that many question whether or not a university in today’s world can shine a harsh light on its athletics programs. We are aware that many wonder if university administrations are willing to turn a blind eye to wrongdoing that may disrupt a successful sports program. I can assure you I am not, and my fellow administrators are not. We hold everyone in our community to high standards and we don’t tolerate illegal, abusive or unethical behaviorno matter who you are.

As you know, this week, I affirmed Syracuse University’s steadfast belief that all of us have the responsibility, individually and collectively, to ensure that Syracuse University remains a safe place for every campus community member and everyone with whom we interact on a daily basis on campus or in the community as part of our learning, scholarship, or work. We do not tolerate abuse.

The dilemma in any situation like this, of course, is thatwithout corroborating facts, witnesses or confessionsone must avoid an unfair rush to judgment. We have all seen terrible injustices done to the innocent accused of heinous crimes. And we’ve all seen situations where the guilty avoid justice.

At this time, all we really know is that a terrible tragedy is unfolding for both the accuser and the accused. I want you to know that we will do everything in our power to find the truth, andif and when we do find itto let you know what we have found.

Sincerely,

Nancy Cantor"
 
Syracuse is saying and doing all of the right things -- well done on their part
 
That is well-written by NC. SU jumped all over this. Have handled this way better than PSU has.
 
The university is handling this the right way, as it apparently did back in 2005.
 
Great job by our chancellor. This is how you address crisis.
 
She is a very good leader and this statement is spot on. Something tells me Bernie will be cleared and pretty soon.
 
Good PR statement.

It certainly helps that she can definitively state that the University takes the matter seriously, and that the University took it seriously in 2005 and did all of the right things while conducting an investigation into the matter.
 
She is a very good leader and this statement is spot on. Something tells me Bernie will be cleared and pretty soon.

I'm not sure you can ever be cleared from allegations like this. Even if the Syracuse PD and University again determine that there is nothing to take action on - these allegations will follow Bernie forever. It's virtually impossible to prove that something like this didn't happen because the allegations tend to be pretty vague in terms of the when and where.
 
Great statement. It definitely helps that SU has handled this right since 2005.
 
Let's be honest - the PSU debacle has helped everyone going forward dealing with these types of things. SU was obviously paying attention on what to do/not to do.
 
Let's be honest - the PSU debacle has helped everyone going forward dealing with these types of things. SU was obviously paying attention on what to do/not to do.

True.

But again--SU handled this correctly back in 2005. If they hadn't, then we would seen an ambiguous, wishy-washy statement from the University about how they are taking this matter seriously and will leave no stone unturned, and how they are committed to not tolerating abuse blah blah blah.

Big difference between that and what Cantor was able to factually state--all because SU handled this responsibly in 2005.
 
True.

But again--SU handled this correctly back in 2005. If they hadn't, then we would seen an ambiguous, wishy-washy statement from the University about how they are taking this matter seriously and will leave no stone unturned, and how they are committed to not tolerating abuse blah blah blah.

Big difference between that and what Cantor was able to factually state--all because SU handled this responsibly in 2005.

The University says they handled it correctly in 2005, for the sake of the program lets pray to god that turns out to be true.
 

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