Kevin Quinn, vice president for public affairs at Syracuse University, said Friday afternoon Chancellor Nancy Cantor would not be speaking on the Bernie Fine case at present. Cantor has already discussed what she knows and and can say given the current investigation through an email sent to the SU community Friday morning, Quinn said.

The chancellor was traveling yesterday when ESPN published a story online about Fine, an associate head men’s basketball coach at SU, alleging Fine had molested a ball boy beginning in the 1980s. Quinn said the chancellor returned to campus early Friday morning. Given this weekend marks the start of SU’s week-long Fall Break and many students are traveling, Quinn said the chancellor felt it was important to reach out to students via email and social media.

Fine was placed on administrative leave Thursday. Quinn said the chancellor and Daryl Gross, director of SU Athletics, made this decision because of the new allegations that arose out of the ESPN story and the news of a second alleged victim.

The Syracuse Police Department is working on investigating the allegations about Fine. In 2005, an investigation into initial allegations against Fine was headed by SU’s legal council. Tom Evans, who serves as general counsel for SU, could not be reached after multiple calls from The Daily Orange. All information requests for SU’s Department of Public Safety are being directed to Quinn. Quinn said DPS has been in communication with SPD since yesterday.

Quinn said the chancellor would be releasing information about the issue as it became available.

‘As she said in her message, when we have more information, she will let the campus know,’ Quinn said.

dkmcbrid@syr.edu

— News Editor Meghin Delaney and Development Editor Kathleen Ronayne contributed reporting to this article.

Published on November 17, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Dara: dkmcbrid@syr.edu | @daramcbride