KU Review Finds No Evidence to Substantiate Former Employee's Claims Against AD
June 9, 2010
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
A review ordered by Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little found no evidence to substantiate claims made by a former Kansas Athletics employee against Athletics Director Lew Perkins.
The review found no evidence of an exchange of exercise equipment for preferential seating, no evidence of drug-testing irregularities and no evidence of ineligible student-athletes. The review was conducted by Vice Provost Mary Lee Hummert and human resources program director Allen Humphrey.
“Even though we may question the motivations of the source, the allegations were serious enough to warrant a detailed review. That review has been completed and its results find no evidence to substantiate the allegations that were made,” said Gray-Little.
The allegations were made by William Dent, who resigned from Kansas Athletics in 2007, and were published by the Topeka Capital-Journal. In the newspaper’s June 1 print edition, Dent stated that his motivation was to “screw with” Perkins. Dent’s correspondence with Perkins and Perkins’ attorney is currently the subject of a Lawrence Police Department investigation into the attempted blackmail of the athletics director.
During the course of their review, Hummert and Humphrey talked with Dent at length as they sought evidence. However, he refused to provide specific information regarding his allegation of drug-testing policy irregularities and refused to provide the names of student-athletes he claimed were ineligible.
Regarding Dent’s allegation that the exercise equipment was given in exchange for favorable seating for the co-owners of Medical Outfitters, Patrick Carpenter and Mark Glass, no evidence was found to substantiate this claim. Carpenter and Glass also denied this allegation.
Hummert and Humphrey reviewed seating records and interviewed Kansas Athletics staff and others about this claim. They determined that Medical Outfitters had made an in-kind contribution to Kansas Athletics – not to Perkins – of a whirlpool for use by Kansas Athletics. This gift was inadvertently not credited to Carpenter’s priority points account for the 2004-05 season. When that was rectified the following season, Carpenter’s seats understandably improved.
Hummert and Humphrey’s interviews included Dent, Perkins and other individuals inside and outside the university. They also reviewed seating records and other documents, and examined reports compiled by Kansas Athletics compliance staff on drug testing and student-athlete eligibility.
Gray-Little said that with these findings, Lew Perkins and Kansas Athletics can renew their focus on the Big 12 Conference: “I have full confidence in Lew and his ability to focus on what is best for our student-athletes and the University of Kansas in the days ahead.”
Gray-Little also indicated her confidence that Kansas Athletics will continue its efforts to establish more transparency in its priority points system and seating assignments as well as new accountability and safeguards to ticket operations.
