BOULDER, Colo. -- The University of Colorado football team has used sex parties to attract recruits, and school officials have resisted demands to stop the practice, Boulder County District Attorney Mary Keenan said in a deposition.

CU athletic officials angrily denied the allegations at a Thursday afternoon news conference.

Video

CU Coach Denies Sex Parties

Keenan made the statement in October when she was questioned by attorneys as a potential witness in a federal lawsuit filed by a woman who alleges she was raped at an off-campus party in 2001 attended by football recruits. The Boulder Daily Camera reported the statement in Thursday's editions.

In the deposition Keenan said she met with athletic department officials after a 17-year-old girl reported she was raped by a football player or a recruit at a 1997 party.

Keenan said she met with university officials again after a woman said she was raped at the 2001 party. Keenan said she didn't believe school officials took her complaints seriously.

In her deposition, Keenan said she was told by a former CU athletic department official that athletic director Dick Tharp and head football coach Gary Barnett decided against any changes.

"They decided, after discussing the history, that they would not change anything because they could not afford to lose the competitive edge against universities such as Oklahoma (and) Nebraska," Keenan said.

Barnett and Tharp both denied the allegations at a news conference.

"The accusation is wrong, inaccurate and false," football coach Gary Barnett told reporters as a read a preapred statement.

"I feel that my professional and personal integrity has been attacked. I have been publicly accused of encouraging inappropriate behavior by my players," Barnett continued. "This is offensive to me, my family, my colleagues and my team. These accusations are not only inaccurate, but my record and reputation over the past 33 years prove it to be a lie."

Tharp said that neither he nor Barnett would ever "throw away all the values of our upbringing in exchange for a 'W' (win)."

"I am deeply and personally offended by these allegations. On behalf of the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and all of its dedicated employees and students, I categorically deny any suggestion or intimation that we engage in or condone such reprehensible conduct as the use of sex to entice young recruits," Tharp said in a prepared statement.

Both Barnett and Tharp walked out of the news conference after making statements, and didn't take questions.

Gov. Bill Owens said he was shocked by the allegations and demanded a public accounting.

"I am calling upon each of you, as the leaders of the University, to provide a full, substantive and public disclosure of all the facts regarding the alleged abuses in the football recruiting program," Owens wrote in a letter to the board of regents.

Owens insisted the university take steps to reassure female students that it will not tolerate a climate of sexual misconduct.

"Women are not recruiting tools," Owens said.

CU provost Phil DiStefano issued a statement in response, which said, in part:

"We strongly dispute the claim that the university fosters an environment of sexual harassment or that sex is used as a tool in recruiting athletes. We do not now, nor have we ever, condoned sexual misconduct by students or prospective students, whether they are athletes or not."

In her court deposition, Keenan also said Boulder police officer Don Spicely met with players and coaches before the formal police investigation began into the 2001 party.

"It gave (coaches and players) a chance to cover it up," she said.

Boulder police Chief Mark Beckner called the claim "bullshit," according to the Daily Camera. He said Spicely was a liaison between police and the football team and had done nothing wrong.

Spicely couldn't find a crime report because campus police were handling the case, according to Beckner.

"Nobody had reported a crime to him," Beckner said of Spicely. "He had nothing to report on at that time other than rumors."

Spicely told players to tell their coaches about the rumors and write down what happened in case they did become the subject of a criminal investigation, according to Beckner.

Keenan, reached Thursday afternoon, said, "I’m not going to comment on the deposition. It speaks for itself."

In another deposition in the lawsuit, university police officer Timothy Delaria described another 2001 party as "some kind of sex party for the recruits."

Delaria's deposition, made in May 2003, said recruits were shown a pornographic video and told that easy sex was a fringe benefit of playing at Colorado.

Delaria, discussing a transcript of a police interview with a football recruit, said the recruit told officers, "They told us, you know, 'This is what you get when you come to Colorado."'

Keenan and Delaria gave their depositions as part of a lawsuit filed by Lisa Simpson, who alleged she was sexually assaulted by two men at the 2001 party.

Simpson filed her case as "Jane Doe" but later dropped the pseudonym, saying she wanted to set an example that sex assault victims need not feel ashamed.

Prosecutors filed no sexual assault charges after the party because they said they did not think they could be proved. Four players were charged with providing marijuana and alcohol to minors.

Another woman has filed a lawsuit against the university saying she too was sexually assaulted at the party.

A judge on Wednesday ordered Simpson's attorneys to give university lawyers her medical and psychological records that are relevant to the case.

He also ordered Simpson to give CU lawyers passages from her diary that relate to her claim she was denied access to an education because she was traumatized after the party.