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No secret

Another former Univ. of Minn. employee speaks out

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Posted: Tuesday April 20, 1999 11:21 AM

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The former director of the University of Minnesota's academic counseling unit said four administrators knew of academic problems in the men's basketball program.

Elayne Donahue, who retired last year after 15 years, on Monday named McKinley Boston, the former men's athletic director who now is vice president of student development and athletics; former Vice Presidents Anne Hopkins and Jim Infante and former President Nils Hasselmo.

"What I tried to get across to the investigators is that it was an institutional problem," she said. "[Coach] Clem Haskins filled the space he was given, and he was given a lot of space."

Jan Gangelhoff, a former office manager in the academic counseling unit, said she did more than 400 pieces of course work for at least 20 players from 1993 to 1998.

When Donahue was asked whether she believed those four administrators knew of academic cheating, she said, "If you're asking did those people know Jan Gangelhoff was writing term papers, I would doubt it. But I have no way of knowing."

Donahue made her comments after presenting investigators with her report that alleges men's basketball players received preferential treatment, including grade-fixing, by some faculty members.

Donahue gave her report to the media last week because she said she thought the allegations would not be investigated thoroughly if they were not made public first. She said after her interview that she believed her concerns were heard.

Donahue and the investigators also discussed Haskins' role in the academic careers of his athletes and any knowledge he might have had that Gangelhoff, of Danbury, Wis., was doing work for players.

"I believe he had total control," she said. "He was advocating certain tutors that he wanted his athletes to work with and others he didn't. He had to have knowledge of their work to do that."

Earlier on Monday, Gangelhoff's attorney, Jim Lord, gave reporters a men's athletic department analysis of individual players' grades, an act that violates state data privacy laws, before scurrying to collect every copy. Lord also represents Donahue.

 

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