Update: University of Colorado Sex Scandal

By Regina Cowles, President, Boulder, CO NOW

Almost 15,000 NOW advocates and anti-rape activists from across the nation responded last month to our call for support for a thorough and fair investigation into the recruiting sex scandal at the Boulder campus of the University of Colorado (CU).

Your emails to the regents and university leaders had a major effect, resulting in:

• Colorado Governor Bill Owens' appointment of Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar as Special Prosecutor to the CU investigation;
• The placement of Jean McAllister, a well-respected expert on sexual assault, on the investigative panel;
• The recent implementation of sweeping changes to CU's football recruiting program, announced by the President and Chancellor on March 4, 2004, which include 11pm curfews for high school recruits and adult supervision for their visits.

There's still a long way to go...

Although neither the coach nor the athletic director has been held accountable for their disreputable actions, the attention to this matter has reached national proportions, with the NCAA forming a panel to investigate football recruiting practices nationwide and the U.S. Congress holding hearings on these matters just this week.

And for Boulder NOW, a positive extension of this controversy has been the dramatic emergence of SAFE-T, Students Advocating for Fair and Equal Treatment, begun by dynamic women students who have taken firm and public stands on behalf of rape victims and the health and safety of all the students on campus.

Thank you NOW and all activists for standing beside us as we spoke out for girls and women and against violence and injustice.