SU's response

[albanycuse]

2nd paragraph makes me feel a little better.

"In 2005, Syracuse University was contacted by an adult male who told us that he had reported to the Syracuse City Police that he had been subjected to inappropriate contact by an associate men's basketball coach. The alleged activity took place in the 1980's and 1990's. We were informed by the complainant that the Syracuse City Police had declined to pursue the matter because the statute of limitations had expired.
"On hearing of the allegations in 2005, the University immediately launched its own comprehensive investigation through its legal counsel. That nearly four-month long investigation included a number of interviews with people the complainant said would support his claims. All of those identified by the complainant denied any knowledge of wrongful conduct by the associate coach. The associate coach also vehemently denied the allegations.
"Syracuse University takes any allegation of this sort extremely seriously and has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind. If any evidence or corroboration of the allegations had surfaced, we would have terminated the associated coach and reported it to the police immediately. We understand that the Syracuse City Police has now reopened the case, and Syracuse University will cooperate fully. We are steadfastly committed ensuring that SU remains a safe place for every member of our campus community."

 

[Marsh01]

could be just saying that based on given the answers to the test following the PSU thing.

Cant believe this is happening.

 

[ljmilman]

As far as I understand, ESPN, the Post Standard, and SU each investigated these allegations in 2003 and were unable to find corroborating evidence. I will withhold judgement until we know more.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

On a side note, why in the hell is that a statute of limitations on child molestation?

 

[690West]

On a side note, why in the hell is that a statute of limitations on child molestation?

That's a good point.

 

[BlazeOrange]

No direct contact between SU and the police is mentioned:

"...Syracuse University was contacted by an adult male who told us that he had reported to the Syracuse City Police ..."

"...We were informed by the complainant that the Syracuse City Police had declined to pursue the matter..."

"...we would have terminated the associated coach and reported it to the police immediately..."

"...We understand that the Syracuse City Police has now reopened the case..."

 

['72 Orange]

I can't believe there was a thread the other day asking - who will replace Bernie Fine when he leaves! Talk about bad karma!!!

 

[OrangeHeel]

On a side note, why in the hell is that a statute of limitations on child molestation?

We have them for a reason. At some point, it's not fair to have defend against allegations of long ago conduct when people and facts which could answer the charges have long since forgot or been lost. For sex cases, the statute is fairly generous in that the five year period in NY is generally five years past the abused person's 18th birthday. For eg., an abused 12 year old's case could still be prosecuted up to 11 years after it happened. (6 years to 18 plus 5 years.) In NY, there is not statute of limitations for murder.

 

[ljmilman]

I have to believe that because the alleged incidents as well as the first report were all before Chancellor Cantor and Darryl Gross arrived at SU, it will aid them in distancing themselves (and by extension the University) from these actions.

It also seems that the University has handled the process properly. The actions of Bernie Fine will come to light, and he will either be guilty or innocent, but that potential guilt should not (unless new info comes out) be transferred upon Syracuse University.

 

[OttoMets]

On a side note, why in the hell is that a statute of limitations on child molestation?

Eh, same deal as statute of limitations on anything else - important to encourage people to bring complaints in a timely manner. Want to disincentivize, well, things like this - having an incident and trying to bring charges 28 years later.

For the more serious charge of rape, though, there's no SOL.