BOULDER — The University of Colorado has hired two lawyers who specialize in institutional response to sexual violence and gender-based harassment to investigate how campus leaders handled domestic violence allegations against a former assistant football coach.
Attorneys Leslie Gomez and Gina Maisto Smith, who work for the firm Cozen O’Connor in Philadelphia, will investigate how Chancellor Phil DiStefano, Athletic Director Rick George and football coach responded when they learned of domestic violence allegations against Joe Tumpkin.
Gomez and Maisto Smith recently investigated Baylor University and produced a report showing that the university did not take seriously complaints of women who had been assaulted by football players. Their investigation resulted in Baylor firing its football coach, suspending its athletic director and demoting university president Kenneth Starr.
“We are looking at what occurred and when, if our policies were violated, or whether those policies should be modified to better explain the reporting (requirements),” CU Board of Regents Chair Irene Griego, a Lakewood Democrat, said in a prepared statement during the regents’ meeting Friday.
Griego’s statement comes during the second day of a two-day board meeting held on the Boulder campus. On Thursday, the regents heard from top Athletic Department officials for two hours during a public meeting, but the Tumpkin matter was not discussed.
The regents then met for several hours during a meeting that was closed to the public. Griego said earlier this week that she expected the regents to discuss the Tumpkin situation in private.
In her statement Friday, Griego said the board was aware that Tumpkin is accused of abusing his partner over a period of several years during a romantic relationship.