Differences, Parallels in Sexual-Abuse Scandals at Syracuse, Penn State
By By Frank Fitzpatrick
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Maybe the strange calm here can be attributed to Syracuse basketball's position atop the national polls, or to the normal stillness of an Adirondack winter. Or perhaps it's because the Bernie Fine scandal has yet to yield criminal charges, sordid grand jury reports, student riots, or the stunning dismissal of both a college president and an iconic coach. Whatever the reason, nearly two months after several sex-abuse allegations surfaced against Fine, coach Jim Boeheim's longtime top aide and neighbor, the worst of the storm seems to have passed this rusty Finger Lakes city. As Boeheim's No. 1-ranked Orange prepared to meet Villanova on Wednesday night in Philadelphia, there were few reminders here of the case that so recently attracted national headlines. Unlike the aftermath at Penn State, where child sex-abuse charges involving football assistant Jerry Sandusky touched off an earthquake that cost Joe Paterno his job, few alleged victims have come forward. There has been no dramatic court testimony like that offered by Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary, no ongoing public protests, no frantic coaching searches, no administrative hand-wringing of the kind that's lingered in Happy Valley. "The play of this team to reach No. 1 in the country has provided a big distraction from the Bernie Fine story," said Brent Axe, a sports talk-show host for Syracuse's WSKO The Score 1260. "Many people here in Central New York feel they have turned the page. Whether the worst is still to come or not, I get the sense that they are fearful of what is around the corner." It's been three-plus weeks since the Syracuse Post-Standard, which has been reporting heavily on the Fine case and the ongoing federal probe, last ran an extensive story on it. In fact, after an extended period when the subject hadn't even been raised, Boeheim seemed surprised to be asked about Fine following a Jan. 1 win over DePaul, his unbeaten Orange's 15th in a row. "I'm only worried about one thing, this team," he responded. "I'm really not going to talk about anything. Everything will be played out. . . . Everything else will work its way out." That's vastly different than Boeheim's defiant "I'm no Joe Paterno" remark, meant to dismiss the allegations against Fine when they were raised in November. If there are hidden embers ready to flare and singe this university and the basketball program that for many outsiders defines it, they haven't been evident during what has been a surprisingly mild Syracuse winter. "I don't think the people here have forgotten about it," said Tim Jackson, an Orange basketball fan from suburban Liverpool, "but, if this makes any sense, they aren't thinking about it either. We're hoping it's not as big as Penn State's mess." When Paterno was dismissed by Penn State's trustees, thousands of students took to the State College streets. Here, as far as anyone can recall, the Fine story triggered just one campus protest. That event, sponsored by a local child-advocacy group, involved just three or four picketers and was confined to a remote corner of the cramped campus. Curiously, perhaps the most visible public reaction came from a Syracuse student group that was protesting not against Fine but against protesters. On Dec. 2, a few dozen Syracuse students countered a planned demonstration by the gay-bashing Westboro Baptist Church at a Florida-Syracuse Carrier Dome game. Upset by the presence of the controversial church group on campus, colorfully garbed students carried such signs as "God Hates Figs" - a satiric reference to Westboro's "God Hates Fags" theme. But the Westboro protesters never appeared. "It is surprising that things seem so quiet there," said the Rev. Robert Hoatson of the Road To Recovery, a New Jersey-based organization that aids child sex-abuse victims and has monitored the Syracuse situation closely. "But I really do think this thing has the potential to be worse than Penn State." For Syracuse, Fine, and Boeheim, the horizon is not entirely clear of troubling clouds. There's the U.S. Attorney's Office probe that has left most of the principals closemouthed. And Syracuse police are continuing to run down leads. One of those, according to the Post-Standard, led police to seek out an alleged victim who, they later learned, had died in 1989. With a 17-0, veteran-laden team that seems capable of bringing him a second national title, Boeheim, who did not want to be interviewed for this story, appears to have moved out of the disturbing spotlight. The coach initially infuriated child-advocacy groups when he characterized the allegations made by a 39-year-old former ball boy, Bobby Davis, "a bunch of a thousand lies." "It was like he was telling the victims to shut up," said Hoatson. Boeheim later recanted and apologized for comments he said were insensitive. But he continues to insist he knew nothing of Fine's alleged secret life. "What is most important is that this matter be fully investigated and that anyone with information be supported to come forward so that the truth can be found," Boeheim said at the time. In November, upset with what he saw as the coach's efforts to silence the victims, Hoatson wrote a letter to Syracuse University president Nancy Cantor urging her to fire Boeheim. Hoatson still feels that way. "It's all related to the Syracuse program Boeheim ran," Hoatson said. "And I really think we could see a lot more victims here. Fine ran a basketball camp for Syracuse. He housed international players who were considering the school. Players and those associated with the team visited and lived at his house." That house on Scott Avenue, where Fine moved in 1999, is, as Hoatson noted, "literally across the street from Boeheim's house." Many of the alleged assaults took place at the assistant coach's previous home, at 201 Wilson St. The modest colonial is just a short walk from Henninger High School, where Fine served as head coach for four seasons before joining Boeheim's staff in 1975. That house, some say, was for 25 years a sort of clubhouse for boys close to Fine as well as those from the teams he coached. According to a defamation lawsuit filed last month by Davis and another alleged victim, Michael Lang, Fine would watch TV with the boys in his den, often touching them. But, according to the Post-Standard, such Syracuse stars as Rony Seikaly and Pearl Washington also congregated at Fine's, a place Orange assistant Mike Hopkins characterized as "welcoming and busy." News of Davis's allegations against Fine came little more than a week after the Sandusky arrest created a national firestorm of criticism aimed at Penn State. He and Lang claimed Fine had molested them in the 1980s. A third man soon came forward with similar accusations, these from 2002. Fine has denied it all. Placed on administrative leave initially, the veteran assistant was fired in late November after a decade-old audiotape surfaced of a conversation between Davis and Fine's wife. Cantor, the university president, said the school first learned of the incidents in 2005. She said city police, who had looked into accusations against Fine in 2002, were contacted and a university investigation launched. After its probe turned up insufficient evidence, Cantor said, Syracuse put the matter aside. Cantor also chose not to be interviewed, but in an op-ed piece she wrote for USA Today last month, she insisted the school had no advance knowledge of the tape. In that recording, Laurie Fine appeared to admit knowing her husband was having sex with boys - "[He] thinks he's above the law," she said at one point. "Had that tape surfaced in 2003, Fine would have been fired," Cantor wrote. "Had we been given the tape in 2005, we would have gone straight to the authorities. Had we been given the tape on Nov. 17, there would have been no 'administrative leave.' " Fine would have been fired on the spot. When the tape emerged for the first time on Nov. 27, we fired Fine." Fine will not be charged in any of the incidents because, as Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick made clear, the statute of limitations has been exceeded. Fitzpatrick characterized the accusers' stories as "credible." In New York, the statute for sexual felonies is five years after the victim turns 18, a guideline currently under review in the state legislature. Davis was 30 when he first reported the alleged abuse to Syracuse in 2002. Lang is also too old to seek criminal or civil charges. Curiously, next month, thanks to Syracuse's own Newhouse School of Communications, the issues surrounding the Fine case could get a fresh rendering. Hoatson will serve on a discussion panel as will some Syracuse administrators and several reporters who have worked on the case. "But who knows," said Hoatson, "what might come out before then?" Contact: ffitzpatrick@phillynews.com
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