November 17, 2004

Grand jury secrecy rules prevent us from commenting on any evidence reviewed by the statewide grand jury and on the contents of the grand jury report. Additionally, Judge Bayless has ruled that the report produced by the grand jury was not issued legally and has ordered that it not be released publicly.  Thus, our comments must be somewhat limited. However, we felt compelled to address certain areas within the legal constraints.

The University has never seen any report written by Predovich & Company, the existence and contents of which were reported in today's Rocky Mountain News. We are outraged that someone has violated the law by releasing to the press a report supposedly provided to the grand jury, especially since it has been withheld from the University. We have brought this to the attention of Judge Bayless.

We believe we fully complied with all subpoenas for documents issued by the grand jury. To suggest we did not is false. Our firm belief that we did comply is based in part on numerous assurances from the attorney general's office, including an explicit assurance to counsel for the University approximately one week before the grand jury concluded its work. At that time there were "no concerns" about the University's document production. For anyone to assert now that we intentionally failed to comply is just plain wrong.

With respect to allegations relating to the University's financial transactions with the Foundation, we believe that our financial controls and those of the Foundation are appropriate and adequate. However, in order to ensure that the public maintains the highest confidence in those controls, both the University and the Foundation have initiated financial audits that will cover the custody and use of gift funds. These audits are already in progress. They are in addition to the annual audit the University undergoes pursuant to state law, and in addition to the University's internal audit processes. 

With respect to the Buffalo Football Technique School, it is a private organization. The University does not have a contractual relationship with the school nor any control over the school. We have a contract with a corporation controlled by Coach Gary Barnett, which authorizes the coach to operate the camp in university facilities. The University has requested and Coach Barnett and the Buffalo Football Technique School have agreed to an independent audit of all transactions to and from the Technique School. Coach Barnett has also agreed to an independent audit of all University and camp-related transactions to and from his corporation.