NOW Calls for Firing of Colorado Coach

February 19, 2004

The National Organization for Women joins with Colorado State NOW and Boulder NOW leaders in calling for the dismissal of two men who have shown complete disdain for the health and safety of the students at the University of Colorado (CU). We also urge the immediate reorganization of the panel convened to investigate the allegations, including the addition of sexual assault prevention experts and the removal of individuals who have demonstrated bias.

NOW calls for:

1. The full dismissal of the University of Colorado's football coach Gary Barnett and Athletic Director Richard Tharp. Placing Coach Barnett on paid leave does not address the severity of this issue and leaving Director Tharp in his position is unacceptable.
   
2. The appointment of sexual assault prevention experts to the panel investigating University of Colorado athletic recruiting scandals, and sexual harassment and rape allegations.
   
3. The removal of the co-chair of the panel investigating this scandal, Joyce Lawrence. She has been outspoken in her suggestions that the women victims weren't tough enough or brought it on themselves. Lawrence refuses to step down even though she has proved herself incapable of unbiased assessment.
   
4. The removal of Bishop Philip Porter from the investigating panel because of his close association with former Coach Bill McCartney, and because of the revelation, after his appointment, of Porter's status as a co-founder of Promise Keepers, which promotes the submission of women to men.

Coach Barnett spoke to a crowd of local reporters on Feb. 17, about Katie Hnida. Hnida, a place-kicker on CU's 1999 football team, came forward in recent weeks to reveal that she was harassed and raped while playing at CU. Barnett said, "It was obvious Katie was not very good, she was awful, you know what guys do, they respect your ability ... if you can go out and play they respect you. Well Katie was a girl, not only was she a girl, she was terrible."

Following Coach Barnett's statement was another allegation of misconduct made by a University of Colorado-Boulder Athletic Department employee. The woman told authorities late Wednesday that Barnett told her he would back his players 100% if she went forward with an accusation of rape stemming from an incident with a player in 2001.

Late Wednesday, CU-Boulder President Betsy Hoffman announced that Barnett had been placed on paid administrative leave "mainly" over concern for his "extremely inappropriate and insensitive" remarks about Hnida. Hoffman also said that Barnett's comments in 2001 "utterly distressed" her and added, "That is a statement we are very concerned about."

"Aside from insulting Katie Hnida and allegedly using intimidation to protect his players, Barnett seems to be saying that bad players deserve whatever they get—including assault. With statements like this, are we to believe that Coach Barnett was completely unaware of his players' actions?" asked NOW President Kim Gandy. "Furthermore, Barnett's immediate 'blame the victim' response to media inquiries only makes it more suspicious that there was misconduct."

Later, Barnett issued a statement, saying that, "I sincerely regret that yesterday a portion of my remarks were either misinterpreted or taken out of context, and I apologize for answering that question in a manner where I must have come across as insensitive." NOW believes this non-apology to be insufficient considering the serious allegations of rape, and the cover-ups that followed—and Barnett's obvious tendency to blame others who "misinterpret" accounts of his public behavior.

"Coach Barnett insists that nothing inappropriate has gone on with the CU football program, yet he is positive that this behavior exists at other campuses. Is he so busy watching other football programs that he doesn't know what's going on under his nose? I find that hard to believe," said Regina Cowles, Boulder NOW President. NOW urges Colorado activists as well as other concerned individuals to contact University of Colorado officials who have the power to dismiss those responsible for the cover-up and lack of enforcement of the school's policies against discrimination, harassment and sexual assault.

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