The Board of Regents at the University of Colorado will meet today to discuss allegations that the university's athletic department and football team mislead prospective male athletes into believing the life of the athlete emphasizes sex and alcohol through hosting \sex parties.""
Upon arriving for recruitment weekend, high school athletes are paired with players, often who play the same position or are from the same area as the high school athlete, said Dave Plati, assistant athletic director for media and public relations at University of Colorado.
""Everything is planned out for the students with the exception of when they leave from 9 p.m. and return by 1 a.m. for curfew at the discretion of a lot of advice of what they should and shouldn't be doing,"" Plati said.
Last week in Colorado, claims arose that there were a variety of people allegedly trying to cover up the misconduct occurring during recruitment such as coaches, players and the CU Police Department.
""People are extremely uninformed and haven't been listening to what everyone here has been saying that this has not been going on,"" Plati said in response to the alleged cover-up.
But three female former students have come forward saying athletes sexually assaulted them at recruit parties.
Assault allegations arose when one women filed lawsuits claiming she was raped at a party consisting of mainly players and recruits Dec. 7, 2001. Since then, two more women have made accusations about the same party, the most recent coming forward in January 2004.
There have also been numerous allegations made regarding the treatment of football recruits, stemming back to 1997 when Terrell Cade, linebacker for CU, was suspended for one game for providing alcohol to minors.
In 1998, Mary Keenan, Boulder district attorney, alarmed CU that she thought they were using a combination of females and alcohol to draw in recruits.
Additionally, the Boulder district attorney declined to investigate the allegations of sexual assault from the December 2001 party, according to Lieutenant McGraw of the University of Colorado Police Department.
""There is currently no active investigation at this point,"" McGraw added.
Today, CU regents will sort through allegations and devise a plan to further investigate the issue.
At UW-Madison, prospective athletes are also paired up with a player during their visit in order to get a feel for what life is like at UW-Madison, said Steve Malchow, UW-Madison assistant athletic director.
""I feel comfortable with what Madison is doing, and I don't think we've crossed the line to improper behavior,"" Malchow said. ""There are standards you need to meet on what is proper conduct, and hopefully players know what that is as they help prospects get a feel of the campus and determine if this is where they want to go to school.\
