Three key witnesses in the University’s basketball investigation testified Thursday after officials agreed to pay some of their expenses.
Elayne Donahue, Rebecca Fabunmi and Jeanne Payer agreed to continue their testimony after the University agreed to pay more than $12,500 for transcripts of their past and future testimony, as well as costs of duplicating computer files, according to a memo sent to the women’s attorney.
Donahue, the former director of academic counseling who alleges University officials knew about academic problems in the basketball program since the early 1990s, had refused to offer further testimony in the investigation until the University agreed to pay for her transcript expenses.
Former tutors Fabunmi, who alleges a football player masturbated in front of her, and Payer, who said she wrote about 50 papers for basketball players, had also refused to testify further until their expenses were paid.
Because the University was denying their accusations, the women’s attorney, Jim Lord, said his clients wanted to ensure that their testimony was properly recorded.
“Once the University understood these were not adverse parties … they were more willing to pay,” Lord said.
Although all future transcripts of Lord’s clients’ testimony will be paid for by the University, Donald M. Lewis, the head of the University’s investigation, has not yet determined whether transcriptions of other witnesses will be affected.
Lord faxed a letter Thursday to University President Mark Yudof, advising him regarding the employment contract of Clem Haskins, the men’s basketball head coach whose employment status might be decided as early as today.
In the letter, Lord stated that if Haskins had violated NCAA rules before signing his contract and did not disclose those violations to the University, his contract might be “void and unenforceable.” That could mean the University could fire Haskins without any compensation.
“My clients feel it would be against good policy for the University to pay Mr. Haskins many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in light of Mr. Haskins’ conduct, particularly when the University may no longer be obligated to make any further payments,” Lord said in the memo.