UConn Says No Changes Needed In Abuse Policies

By Pat Eaton-Robb

Associated Press

STORRS — The University of Connecticut’s interim athletic director said Tuesday he’s confident his department has enough measures in place to prevent the abuse of children at the school.

Paul Pendergast tells The Associated Press that he has discussed the issue with the university president and his staff in the wake of the sexual abuse scandals at Penn State and Syracuse, and is comfortable that the school is doing enough to keep children safe.

“The fact of the matter is we do have a code of conduct here for the players, for the coaches in their contracts and so forth,’’ he said. “One would hope that these are two situations among the millions that go on across the wider spectrum of education, athletics, you name it. We don’t want to react in such a way that would now put measures in place that maybe don’t need to be there.”

The allegations at Penn State and Syracuse both involve assistant coaches who are accused of sexually abusing boys.

Pendergast said Connecticut has full trust in the people it hires and believes they will act in a moral way. If they don’t, they face termination, he said.

“I haven’t gone to the measure of putting things in place that were not there before,” he said. “It’s there already.”

UConn football coach Paul Pasqualoni, a Penn State alumnus, said UConn has numerous rules in place that deal with moral issues. He said he and others in authority are making sure those rules are followed.