Keene State College President Anne Huot held a press conference Friday, March 27 to open a discussion regarding last year’s investigation of Gino Vallante and two other KSC coaches.
`“These are difficult conversations,” Huot said, referring to the official reports done by the firm McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton. The reviews were led by former N.H. Attorney General Michael Delaney who now works with the firm.
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Huot said that in late January of last year serious allegations regarding Vallante were brought to her attention. A former KSC student and basketball player came forward with information regarding Vallante’s misconduct.
As Huot looked more into the matter, though, it was clear that these weren’t the first problems that were reported about Vallante. Some problems people have had with him (at KSC and other institutions) trace back over ten years according to President Huot.
“There had been a number of occasions, over the course of that time, where we had an obligation to dig a little deeper,” Huot said.
While all three coaches were either fired or let go by the college, no criminal charges have been filed against anyone.
The initial failure to prevent these conduct violations from continuing stems from, “A combination of individual and collective shortcomings when it comes to properly investigating allegations of misconduct,” she said.
Over the course of the investigation it became more and more clear that the college didn’t have enough people to manage situations like this, so Huot said the school has hired an additional position in Human Resources and is looking to hire a full-time Title IX Coordinator.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a Federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities. According to the Title IX informational site, “The Supreme Court has confirmed that schools have an obligation under Title IX to prevent and address harassment against students, regardless of whether the harassment is perpetrated by peers, teachers, or other school officials.” According to the law, any recipient of federal funding (schools, school districts, colleges and universities) “must designate at least one employee to serve as its Title IX coordinator.”
President Huot said that she has scheduled three more “conversations” on campus in two weeks, April sixth seventh and ninth to allow people time to look at the reports before expressing their feelings.
The Equinox is reviewing all the reports done by McLane,Graf, Raulerson & Middleton regarding this case and will produce more information as it comes out.
