Sex abuse case may prompt censure from faculty leaders
Academic Senate will consider resolution to express concern over handling of women athletes’ allegations
San Jose State University’s Academic Senate has drafted a resolution criticizing the athletic administration’s handling of a growing sexual abuse scandal that has led to allegations of retaliation against whistleblowers and the surfacing of new victims in a case of a former athletic trainer’s treatment of women athletes.
The statement, to be considered today in the Senate’s final meeting of the academic year, states that media reports, such as the recent Bay Area News Group coverage of new claims, have triggered concern “that there is a culture of retaliation, harassment and bullying” in the athletics department run by Marie Tuite.
Two sources on Sunday supplied the Bay Area News Group with a copy of the draft, titled
“Sense of the Senate Resolution: Expressing Concern About the Athletics Administration at SJSU.”
The draft calls for San Jose State’s leadership to take steps to protect student athletes, staff, administrators and faculty members from retaliation. It asks San Jose State President Mary Papazian and her staff to “implement concrete measures to foster a climate in which those who report suspected cases of abuse are supported.”
The allegations have attracted the attention of the FBI and attorneys from the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, and spurred notice of legal action from 10 women athletes and lawsuits from former employees caught up in the case, including swim coach Sage Hopkins, who filed a whistleblower retaliation suit in Santa Clara County last month.
The issue dates to 2009 when 17 women swimmers complained about improper touching by thendirector of Sports Medicine Scott Shaw, who resigned last year. The school’s investigation, conducted by a Human Resources administrator had concluded in 2010, found that the uncomfortable touching was a result of Shaw’s use of “pressure point therapy,” which, it said, was a “bona fide means of treating muscle injury.”
Hopkins continued to raise concerns as the athletic administration changed personnel, according to his suit. After he discovered Shaw still was treating some of the swimmers, Hopkins sent a 300-page dossier on the case to officials at the National Collegiate Athletic Association and at the headquarters of the
Mountain West conference, of which San Jose State is a member school. The action led Papazian, in 2019, to launch another review of the case.
Results of the second investigation announced last month reversed the findings of the original inquiry, saying it found no medical value in Shaw’s method of treatments that included massaging women’s breasts and under their underwear near their genitals. Investigators also said it found two more victims after 2017 who were current students.
The Bay Area News Group reported last week about a third victim who said Shaw started treating her in 2014 and continued until she graduated in 2019.
Last month, the San Jose State faculty union asked that Tuite and other executives named in the lawsuits be suspended in a letter to California State University Chancellor Joseph I. Castro.
The Academic Senate draft states the resolution should be to various bodies of the California State University system including the Board of Trustees, Castro and presidents of the 23 state schools.
Papazian cited due process when asked about the alleged retaliation of Hopkins during an April 26 Academic Senate executive committee meeting, according to the minutes.
“We want to do right by the women and give them a voice,” Papazian said. “There is lots we cannot say. We have very clear policies on retaliation. There have been three Athletics Directors since these allegations.”
Papazian, one of 15 people who attended the video meeting, also said allegations are not proof.
“All processes have to play out before anything is done,” she said. “We want to have an entirely independent investigation. We are trying to be as accurate as possible. It is not our place to editorialize. The president is as frustrated that this issue wasn’t resolved in 2009/2010. We will find out what happened and share whatever we can. The President does not make decisions based on allegations, but on evidence. She has an obligation to ensure due process on both sides.”