On Friday, Sports Illustrated’s Michael McKnight published the story of former Colorado Buffaloes assistant coach Joe Tumpkin’s alleged abuse of his ex-girlfriend.
Prior to this report, many knew the details of the alleged abuse and of the university’s response in regards to Tumpkin’s suspension and forced resignation. The report didn’t only shed light upon the subsequent emotional turmoil suffered by the alleged victim, but also established a previously unreported timeline as to exactly when CU, specifically coach Mike MacIntyre and athletic director Rick George.
University of Colorado Chancellor Philip DiStefano released a statement Friday night, which confirmed the report’s assertion that MacIntyre found out about the alleged abuse on Dec. 9; also stating that he immediately informed George, who told DiStefano shortly thereafter. Prior to this however, he issued an apology.
“I want to apologize to the victim in this case, as well as to her son,” read DiStefano’s statement. “She should have received an immediate response from the university pertaining to the actions we might take as well as expressing concern for her safety and any support she needed to deal with repercussions of the trauma she suffered.”
The statement also provides insight into why the aforementioned CU officials chose not to act when they first found out about the allegations.
“At that time, we believed that it was premature to take personnel action because there was no restraining order, criminal charges, civil action or other documentation of the allegation.”
The statement asserts that the university suspended Tumpkin within hours of seeing the court documentation confirming the issuance of a restraining order. They also asked that he resign, which he did, prior to him being charged with assault.
Complicating matters was the fact that the allegations did not come from a faculty member, staff or student and the alleged incidents did not occur on campus. Still, DiStefano pledged that things will be handled differently going forward.
“We regret that as soon as each of us knew of the allegations of domestic violence, written evidence or not, we did not report them to our office of Institutional Equity and Compliance. I am now making it clear to all CU Boulder mandatory reporters that even when they become aware of possible domestic abuse that does not involve a person affiliated with the campus, I want them to err on the side of reporting it to OIEC. In hindsight, we should have done so here.”