Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Parents Defend CU Players, Coach, Football Program
Aired February 23, 2004 - 06:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In Boulder, Colorado, parents of the University of Colorado football players say they are fed up with seeing their sons painted with a broad brush of a sex scandal.
Adrian Baschuk is covering the developments in this case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADRIAN BASCHUK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some 40 parents representing more than 20 players were here for Sunday's press conference. Most of them were Colorado natives, so just a fourth of the team was represented.
They said that they were here for three reasons: first, asking the media for fair coverage; secondly, to demand that Coach Gary Barnett be reinstated and to support a man they say is of the highest integrity and moral standards; and lastly, to defend their son, who they say feel targeted, castigated and threatened by these rape allegations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not fair that when they walk through the mall they have to take off all of their CU stuff because they're looked at as a rapist or a sex offender.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here to sort of give a new face to this story. I mean, all you read on the Internet, in the newspapers are questions about rape, which these are serious, serious allegations. But at the same time, these allegations are protruding into the lives of these student athletes and the student population as a whole.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You cannot put a blanket stamp on an entire program. These young people don't deserve that.
BOB CREIGHTON, PARENT OF CU PLAYER: We deplore violence on college campus. It's not because we have a football team that that exists, that that type of involvement is not a product of a successful football program.
BASCHUK (voice-over): These parents also had a message to the six women who have made these allegations, saying that they feel sexual assault is unacceptable on any college campus and must stop.
They also pointed to local newspaper reports that nearly 500 sexual assaults are alleged to have occurred on campus since 1997. They argue, look at the numbers. There are 28,000 students on campus, but only six allegations have been brought against football players. (on camera): And while these parents were open with their feelings and their anger, they would not answer any questions regarding these rape allegations, nor would they say whether or not any of the accused players' parents were present.
Adrian Baschuk, CNN, Boulder, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired February 23, 2004 - 06:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In Boulder, Colorado, parents of the University of Colorado football players say they are fed up with seeing their sons painted with a broad brush of a sex scandal.
Adrian Baschuk is covering the developments in this case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADRIAN BASCHUK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some 40 parents representing more than 20 players were here for Sunday's press conference. Most of them were Colorado natives, so just a fourth of the team was represented.
They said that they were here for three reasons: first, asking the media for fair coverage; secondly, to demand that Coach Gary Barnett be reinstated and to support a man they say is of the highest integrity and moral standards; and lastly, to defend their son, who they say feel targeted, castigated and threatened by these rape allegations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not fair that when they walk through the mall they have to take off all of their CU stuff because they're looked at as a rapist or a sex offender.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here to sort of give a new face to this story. I mean, all you read on the Internet, in the newspapers are questions about rape, which these are serious, serious allegations. But at the same time, these allegations are protruding into the lives of these student athletes and the student population as a whole.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You cannot put a blanket stamp on an entire program. These young people don't deserve that.
BOB CREIGHTON, PARENT OF CU PLAYER: We deplore violence on college campus. It's not because we have a football team that that exists, that that type of involvement is not a product of a successful football program.
BASCHUK (voice-over): These parents also had a message to the six women who have made these allegations, saying that they feel sexual assault is unacceptable on any college campus and must stop.
They also pointed to local newspaper reports that nearly 500 sexual assaults are alleged to have occurred on campus since 1997. They argue, look at the numbers. There are 28,000 students on campus, but only six allegations have been brought against football players. (on camera): And while these parents were open with their feelings and their anger, they would not answer any questions regarding these rape allegations, nor would they say whether or not any of the accused players' parents were present.
Adrian Baschuk, CNN, Boulder, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
