Wednesday, September 01, 2004

3:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2004

Statement From A. P. Carlton, chairman, UNCW Board of Trustees, Regarding UNCW Women’s Swim Team Sanctions

I am here today along with Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo to clarify some issues surrounding the UNCW Women’s Swim Team and their parents. There has been much discussion from various sources surrounding the women’s swim team both publicly and privately, and it is our desire today to set the record straight and present the facts which have led us to this press conference.

On last Friday, August 26, at the request of past Board of Trustee Chairman Jeff Etheridge and myself, Chancellor DePaolo joined us in a meeting with some of the parents of the UNCW swim team to discuss their concerns about the fairness of sanctions which had been levied on the swim team. We met with parents in good faith. We stressed that the meeting was being held in private, and was not a public meeting. We only had two members of our Board of Trustees present. Our goal was to attempt to resolve the parents’ concerns privately.

After looking into the facts, from my perspective as a trustee of the university, I discovered that although Student Affairs conducted the investigation, the sanctions that were implemented by Chancellor DePaolo came from recommendations by the Athletics Director, Peg Bradley-Doppes to the chancellor’s special assistant, Max Allen. Media reports that Dean Terry Curran recommended the sanctions are simply not true. We have a copy of Peg Bradley-Doppes’ memo of June 21, 2004, available for you. The media also reported that these sanctions have been lifted, suspended, or frozen. That also is not true. We told the parents that the sanctions were held in abeyance. The team sanctions remain in place, unless or until Chancellor DePaolo receives information that would cause her to change them.

Let me tell you where we are today. As we speak, the students are being given an opportunity to be interviewed by Provost Paul Hosier’s office. In addition, administrators in the Athletics Department and in the Student Affairs Division are being interviewed about the investigative process. The information obtained in the interviews will be used by Chancellor DePaolo to determine whether she had accurate and complete information prior to sanctioning the swim program.

I am deeply distressed that some individuals have decided to go to the media with numerous significant factual errors, assumptions not based on facts, selective use of information, lack of understanding of what constitutes hazing and abuse, innuendos, and plain hearsay.

I am hopeful that people will allow this latest process to work and that the findings from the provost will bring an end to what has been an unfortunate series of events for our university, the students, and their parents.

We are a university and the main reason we exist is to provide the best education possible for our students. The safety and welfare of our students remain a paramount priority. Hazing in any form is never tolerable.

We are more than happy to try to answer any questions you may have.

NOTE: For a copy of the June 21, 2004, memo mentioned above, please call Amy Coker at 910/962-3861 or e-mail her at cokera@uncw.edu.