BOULDER, Colo., May 19 (UPI) -- An independent panel formed to probe the sex and booze scandal in the University of Colorado's football program has given school officials a mixed grade.
There is "no clear evidence" university officials endorsed the use of sex and alcohol to recruit football players, the Denver Post reported Wednesday.
But those same officials failed to stop players assigned as hosts for visiting high school recruits from using "sex, alcohol and drugs ... as football recruiting tools," the commission says in its final report.
Released publicly Tuesday, the report sharply criticizes athletic director Dick Tharp, CU-Boulder chancellor Richard Byyny, CU president Betsy Hoffman and football coach Gary Barnett.
"The university's leadership must be held accountable for systemic failings that jeopardized students' safety and allowed for ongoing misconduct in the football recruiting program," the report says.
After the regents created the commission in February, asking it to investigate the allegations of three federal lawsuits, Hoffman said its findings would help her decide the fate of university officials -- including Barnett, whom she suspended with pay Feb. 18.
The report makes no specific personnel recommendations but instead asks Hoffman to decide whether Byyny, Tharp and Barnett "are capable of and committed to providing the leadership necessary to effect profound changes."
