One of the women who has accused University of Colorado football athletes of rape may be interested in telling her story if she can be assured of confidentiality, an official said Tuesday.

Jacqueline St. Joan, a member of the independent panel investigating the school's recruiting scandal, said the former athletic department employee might consider talking if her identity and what she says are protected.

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CU Announces Changes To Recruiting Program

The comments came during the second meeting of a panel appointed by the university's Board of Regents to investigate the scandal. Seven women have accused football players or athletes of rape since 1997, though no charges have been filed.

Three of the women have sued the school in federal court, saying they were raped at or just after a 2001 off-campus party. The women, who are seeking unspecified damages and policy changes, say the school fostered a hostile environment in violation of federal Title IX rules.

The Colorado attorney general is also investigating whether criminal charges are warranted. Football coach Gary Barnett has been placed on leave pending the outcome of the school's investigation.

The regents' panel does not have subpoena power and lawmakers have said they are not interested in giving it to them.

St. Joan did not discuss further details about the alleged victim who might come forward, but confirmed it was a client of attorney Allison Lee.

The university has hired a special assistant, John DiBiaggio, to examine the culture of the university athletic department and report back to school officials.

DiBiaggio, who met for about an hour with the panel, told reporters the football program has a thorough handbook that defines expected behavior, but questioned whether those policies are enforced.

"If, indeed, everything in the handbook was religiously followed, I don't think we'd be here today," he said.

Newly appointed commissioner Jean McAllister was also introduced at Tuesday's meeting.

The group also talked about establishing a tip line and hiring an investigator.

CU Sends Letters To Parents

In the meantime, CU Boulder is sending letters home to parents of incoming freshmen, informing them about the recent scandal, where several women have alleged that sex and alcohol were used in the school's football recruiting program.

In the letter, the chancellor discusses the allegations about the football program and the campus-wide effort to address the perception the scandal caused. The Coronato family, like many 7NEWS spoke with, said they're more concerned about the academic reputation of the school than its media attention.

"Very truly, I would have been disappointed had we not received some explanation from the school," said Craig Coronato, the father of Alyssa Coronato, a high school senior who plans to attend CU.

"It makes me a little bit nervous in some aspects, but it could also be a good thing -- tightening their security so much more that I think it will just make it safer," said Alyssa Coronato.

The Chancellor's Office said it will continue to communicate with parents and students directly as the issues on campus are resolved.

The school is also keeping the community informed by communicating with a large contigent of reporters. As of Monday, the university had opened an estimated 10,000 pages of documents for inspection. That includes everything from internal e-mails about alleged rapes at parties attended by football recruits to detailed phone records for athletic department employees.

Expenses Questioned

Spokeswoman Michelle Ames said there have been literally hundreds of requests for documents -- and more pages are expected to be released Tuesday.

The Boulder Daily Camera took a look at some of the expenses related to football recruiting in the fall of 2001 and discovered that one dinner to entertain 17 possible recruits cost the school more than $3,300.

That dinner, at the Boulder Chophouse, included 10 orders of filet mignon, 16 orders of 'Surf'n Turf,' seven porterhouse steaks, five New York strips and countless orders of appetizers and desserts.

The receipts, obtained under the Colorado Open Records Act, also showed 25 alcoholic drinks were purchased on the bill and 39 sodas. The $3,300 bill was just half of what was requested that weekend to feed recruits. The same records request found the university spent over $4,000 flying just six recruits in and out of Colorado for visits in December of that year.