Colorado men’s basketball coach Ricardo Patton has been cleared of a racial discrimination charge and was found in violation only of university policy for failing to report a sexual harassment allegation against a former employee in a timely manner.
CU spokesman Barrie Hartman made the announcement Wednesday after an investigation of more than three months by the University’s Office of Discrimination and Harassment (ODH).
“At no time was Coach Patton ever suspected of personally being involved in any way in sexual harassment,” CU athletic director Mike Bohn said Wednesday. “It’s unfortunate that this raised a great deal of speculation that was unfounded.”
Patton received oral counseling from the university but received no other penalty, Hartman said. In addition, Bohn ordered all employees in the athletic department to undergo training on the handling of sexual harassment cases.
Patton could not be reached for comment.
The sexual harassment allegation against the men’s basketball program stemmed from an incident last August in which a male staff member, who is no longer with the program, made comments that were sexual in nature and were overheard by a female administrative assistant.
ODH found that Patton took action against the employee, reportedly ordering him to counseling. However, Patton failed to report the incident to ODH, which learned of the incident in March.
CU did not reveal the name of the former employee involved in the sexual harassment allegation because of legal reasons and university policy, Hartman said.
When investigating the sexual harassment charge, ODH learned of an incident in which Patton allegedly referred to the slave trade in an effort to motivate certain members of the team. Players said Patton said light-skinned blacks were perceived by slave traders as being weaker and lacking the toughness of dark-skinned blacks.
Patton has denied using inappropriate racial language and said his intent was only to discuss black history with a player.
Upon completing its investigation, ODH found that Patton’s statement referring to light- skinned blacks was “one, isolated comment that was not severe or pervasive enough to interfere with the student athletes’ academic or learning environment. Therefore it did not violate the university’s discrimination and harassment policy,” Hartman said.
Tom Kensler can be reached at 303-820-5456 or tkensler@denverpost.com.
