Rego criticizes assault claim
By MYRA McGRIFF
Saint Mary's Editor
Cooper Rego issued a statement Wednesday denying that he sexually assaulted Kori Pienovi in 1997 and said he accepted his punishment from Notre Dame only because "life was too short to spend time fighting."
"[Peinovi's] accusations are not true," Rego said.
After Rego accepted his dismissal from Notre Dame, Peter Ginsberg, an attorney serving as an advisor to Rego's father, said Notre Dame assisted Rego in his transfer to West Virginia.
"The decision was made that he should transfer from Notre Dame and they assisted him to transfer to West Virginia ... they talked to certain people at West Virginia about the accusations," said Ginsberg.
Denny Moore, spokesperson for Notre Dame, said that people at Notre Dame did write letters for Rego to West Virginia. The letters were not written in any official capacity. He said one person even told West Virginia to contact Student Affairs.
"Two people on campus wrote letters to West Virginia giving their impression of him. They were people who have no knowledge of University disciplinary proceedings," Moore said.
Ginsberg also leveled criticism on how Notre Dame handled Rego's dismissal in 1998. He said that Rego could not have received a fair hearing when he was dismissed.
"Cooper went in without representation to a hearing with non judicial people who have no understanding of due process rights," Ginsberg said.
Ginsberg explained that Rego did not have "factual information" at the hearing. He did not have witnesses to collaborate his side of events.
Charges were never filed against Rego in any criminal court. He left school following the disciplinary decisions of an internal hearing at Notre Dame. The disciplinary procedures as outlined in du Lac list the accused and the accuser's rights in an Administrative Hearing.
It states: "A charged student may be assisted, but not represented, by a peer student at the Administrative Hearing."
Whether or not Rego had a peer advisor is still unclear, but Ginsberg does say that Rego had discussions with people in relation to the hearing. Also unclear is if those discussions occurred during the Administrative Hearing or outside it.
Both Rego and Ginsberg also said that Pienovi's accusations may have been racially motivated.
"I was a young, black freshman four years ago, accused of a horrible act by a white woman," Rego said in his statement.
Rego also called for Notre Dame not to "buckle to a group driven more by the `cause' than by the pursuit of truth."
Ginsberg identifies the group as the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes —the same group Rego calls in his letter a "radical `rights' group."
Kathy Redman, spokesperson for the group, denied that the organization was a radical rights group. She said the group's only goal in this particular situation was to get Notre Dame to keep its word to Pienovi and uphold Rego's ban.
Moore also said Notre Dame has yet to make a definitive statement regarding the upholding of Rego's ban.
West Virginia, however, confirmed that Rego will travel with the team to South Bend.
"The bottom line is Cooper Rego was never charged or arrested for any crime that we're aware of, and he's going on about his normal activities, which means traveling with the team," West Virginia spokeswoman Becky Lofstead told the Associated Press. "He's not been in any trouble here. He's been a good student in terms of academics and behavior."
All News Stories for Thursday, October 11, 2001
