Cavagnaro can keep AD job

Steve Carp

Friday, May 29, 1998 | 3:43 a.m.

UNLV athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro will remain on the job after president Dr. Carol Harter found there was no basis to allegations that Cavagnaro had made racially insensitive remarks about the school's athletes.

"I have reviewed with Chancellor (Richard) Jarvis and Kwasi Nyamekeye, system counsel, the results of the exhaustive inquiry and have shared those results with Mr. Cavagnaro," Harter said today in a prepared statement. "I have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to support the most serious of these allegations.

"However, Charlie agrees with me that he may have used language that others genuinely find offensive and has apologized."

Harter added in what amounted to a public reprimand: "I have spoken and written to Mr. Cavagnaro emphasizing the seriousness of these issues and describing the consequences should future instances occur.

"I am confident Charlie understands my position and will maintain his record of strong and consistent support of equitable treatment for minority and women coaches and student-athletes. I hope we will be able to move forward as an institution and bring this matter to closure."

Harter, who is traveling to California for Monday's Western Athletic Conference presidents meeting in Monterey, could not be reached for additional comment.

In a prepared statement of his own, Cavagnaro said: "I reiterate in the strongest possible terms my sincerest apologies if I have inadvertently made insensitive remarks or unintentionally offended anyone.

"It is because of my career-long commitment to diversity and gender equity that I find these accusations so distressing and repeat my apology."

The decision was made by Harter Thursday after she had met late Wednesday with Jarvis and Nyamekeye, the assistant general counsel to the University and Community College System of Nevada who spent the past three weeks looking into the allegations.

Jarvis had indicated earlier that day that he had no set timetable as to when he would meet with Nyamekeye because Nyamekeye had not finished the interview process.

However, Nyamekeye said Friday that he felt he could no longer wait for those interviewees to get in touch with him and he presented his report orally to Harter and Jarvis late Wednesday.

"I met with the Chancellor and President Harter and briefed them on what I had," Nyamekeye said. "It was a long and exhaustive meeting."

Nyamekeye wouldn't say how long the meeting took. However, it is known that he had interviewed more than 60 UNLV employees, coaches and former staff members as well as talking to Cavagnaro last Thursday. Hundreds of pages of notes were taken in the process.

However, those notes will not be made public, nor is a written report on the matter expected to be delivered.

"I haven't been asked to prepare or submit a written report," Nyamekeye said. "Whether there's going to be a written report at some point, that I do not know."

Because Cavagnaro's case has been classified as a personnel matter, UNLV and the Chancellor's office claim there are legal limitations on what can be disclosed publicly.

On May 5, Harter had asked for and received an independent investigation from the Chancellor's office into the matter after media reports had alleged Cavagnaro had called UNLV basketball and football players "monkeys" and "gorillas." Cavagnaro allegedly had made sexist remarks about members of the school's softball team, referring to them as "dykes in spikes."

The alleged comments were allegedly made over the past two years, but didn't surface publicly until after the April 7 hiring of Regina Miller as UNLV's new women's basketball coach.

Miller, an African-American who most recently coached at Western Illinois and had posted an overall record of 60-100, was not the top choice of the search committee. Yet she was hired and that aroused speculation that UNLV was leveraged into hiring her because Rudy Washington, the head of the Black Coaches Association, was aware of Cavagnaro's alleged remarks and threatened to go public with the information.

Both Washington and UNLV have denied that scenario. But it was enough to fuel speculation about Cavagnaro and after the reports increased, Harter went to Jarvis to seek an independent inquiry.

Nyamekeye spent the past three weeks talking to everyone he could about Cavagnaro. Finally, he revealed what he had learned to Harter and Jarvis Wednesday and Harter made her decision to keep her athletic director in his chair at the Thomas & Mack Center.