The final University Senate meeting of the semester, held at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Maxwell Auditorium, generated the most discussion thus far, as members focused on the allegations facing Bernie Fine, former associate head men’s basketball coach.

Chancellor Nancy Cantor introduced the topic of how the Syracuse University community needs to foster a safe environment for every campus member as the situation continues to unfold.

Fine is accused of sexually abusing four different males when they were younger. Fine was fired from the university Nov. 27.

Cantor said the university has been fully cooperating with law enforcement investigations, and she is open to examining what has been done in the past and what can be learned from those actions.

She said it is important to involve all resources on campus in a dialogue to better understand the effects of sexual abuse and to acknowledge the situation with a straightforward approach.

‘The one thing I think we all can agree on, coming from many different perspectives on this issue, is that it’s hard — really hard,’ Cantor said. ‘Hardest, of course, on victims, but hard on leaders.’

The Committee on Women’s Concerns followed Cantor’s address with a proposed resolution. According to the resolution, the committee, along with the USen Committee on Athletic Policy, asked the university to acknowledge the effect of the sexual abuse allegations on the entire university community, to distribute information on how to address and prevent sexual abuse, and to suggest resources available.

The committee made a motion for USen to endorse the statement. The motion then became open for discussion.

Thomas Wolfe, senior vice president and dean of student affairs, said this is a timely statement and that it is something USen should endorse. He suggested adding two resources to the statement’s list, the Office of Student Assistance to on-campus resources and the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center as an off-campus resource.

Herman Frazier, deputy athletic director, spoke on behalf of the athletic department and said they want to be open and transparent.

‘For athletics, this is a teachable moment for us to make sure that we are doing things correctly,’ Frazier said. ‘We require a lot of our coaches and student-athletes, and we want it to be an atmosphere that is certainly comfortable. And to that, we will do everything within our power to make sure that those things happen.’

Samuel Gorovitz, a philosophy professor, said he is in complete support of the motion and agrees with the call for many venues of dialogue. He said he hopes to use these venues to work toward answering many questions that are currently being talked about nationally, like whether the three members of the Board of Trustees had any knowledge of the original investigation.

Craig Dudczak, a communication and rhetorical studies professor, said he hopes the investigation by the independent law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison exposes helpful information in answering questions.

As the representative body of the university, Dudczak said he thinks USen should get more involved with the interest of serving the campus community in light of the Fine allegations.

Another aspect dancing around the edges of this issue, said Deborah Pellow, an anthropology professor, is the relationship between the athletic and academic programs and the sense among some faculty that the athletes are treated differently than everybody else.

‘They have leeway that the rest of our students just don’t,’ Pellow said. ‘I think it is part of the background of all this.’

Wolfe responded and said, as one who monitors the judicial processes of the university, there is no special treatment offered to someone who is an athlete.

As discussion came to a close, Francine D’Amico, an international relations professor, made an effort to strengthen the statement by proposing the addition of a phrase to also acknowledge the rights of the accused.

The motion was unanimously passed with the amendment and the addition of the suggestions Wolfe made earlier in the meeting.

Before the meeting adjourned, political science professor Jeff Stonecash asked if the reports from the 2005 investigation would be made open to the public.

Cantor said the report was created with confidentiality to create an environment in which people feel they can come forth. But, with the law firm review, there will be some type of report that covers how the 2005 investigation was conducted.

rebarill@syr.edu 

Published on December 7, 2011 at 12:00 pm