DENVER – In the report led by WilmerHale, a law firm that includes former U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, the University of Colorado’s key figures were found to not have intentionally covered up the allegations of domestic violence against former defensive coach Joe Tumpkin.
While there was no coverup, the report does find wrongdoing by the school in three areas: Failure to report domestic violence allegations, failure to report to law enforcement and failure to supervise Tumpkin.
The biggest punishment comes for chancellor Phil DiStefano, who will serve a 10-day suspension. DiStefano along with Mike MacIntyre and Rick George will receive letters of reprimand. The three will also be required to give a $100,000 donation to domestic violence awareness.
CU President Bruce Benson said that the school “didn’t handle this as well as we should have,” and “we’ll own up to that.”
Benson went on to say, “some will say these disciplinary actions go too far. Some will say they don’t go far enough. Not everyone will be happy.”
The report concludes that MacIntyre and George should have known they were obligated to report allegations to law enforcement. The report also states MacIntrye thought he met reporting allegations by notifying George.
The full report can be found here.
Statement from George:
Statement from MacIntyre:
Statement from Benson:
Statement from Chancellor DiStefano:
Conclusion from WilmerHale and Ken Salazar report and review of Tumpkin case:
The alleged victim in the case filed a claim indicating her intention to sue CU earlier this month, seeking damages in the amount of an estimated $3.7 million, or $5,000 per day for the duration of the domestic violence.
Tumpkin is still part of an ongoing investigation in Colorado, and is facing criminal charges for these same domestic violence incidents. He resigned from his position at the University in January following a protection order being filled against him.
Tumpkin was charged with five felony counts of second-degree assault and three misdemeanor counts of third-degree assault in a domestic violence case.
This situation is stalling the contract extension of MacIntyre, who earlier this year was set to receive a $16.25 million extension through 2021. Following the release of a Sports Illustrated story about the Tumpkin situation, the University’s Board of Regents determined that an investigation into the handling of the domestic violence claims was necessary. They have since put all discussion of MacIntyre’s contract on hold and are expected to final rule on that later this week when it should be discussed by the regents.
Tumpkin was a coach on Colorado’s staff for two years. Following defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt’s departure for Oregon Tumpkin assumed similar duties in the Buffaloes’ 38-8 loss to Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl.
Our timeline from February about this situation can be read here.
0 Comments (1 conversation)
Glad there is some sort of resolution at this point in time. It sounds a lot like what I (and many others) thought all along. Mac, George and DiStefano all had no intention of covering this up and wanted to terminate Tumpkin, but didn’t go about reporting it in the best possible way to best possible outlets. I’ve thought long and hard about how I would act if I was put in a similar spot, and I while I can’t know for sure what the best approach was, I also don’t think these guys are scumbags that were only trying to profit off of keeping this quiet. I’m glad the University is striving to be a leader in both the way and the rate at which they address domestic violence, and I’m glad all of the parties issued statements in support of this approach.
Hopefully CU will not have its name drug through the mud and be associated with other schools like Baylor or Penn State, because it doesn’t take too long to see that there is a night and day difference between how a terrible thing was handled here vs. there.