Senior athletic official John Chadima allegedly sexually assaulted a student employee during a Rose Bowl party in his hotel suite, a UW-Madison report revealed Tuesday.
In the report, investigators chronicled allegations that Chadima reached down a male student employee's pants after a hotel party during which students, some under 21, drank alcohol purchased by the UW Athletic Department using donor funds.
Alvarez and other senior Athletic Department administrators knew about the parties, which Chadima hosted for four consecutive years during the Bowl games, but did not attend.
The incident reportedly occurred at a party hosted by Chadima to thank student employees for their work for the football team. The party included between 25 and 30 people, about half of whom were students and several Athletic Department staff members.
After nearly seven hours during which guests consumed alcohol provided by the Athletic Department, an allegedly intoxicated Chadima requested the remaining student, named John Doe in the report, also intoxicated, stay to have another drink.
Seated at a corner table, Chadima reportedly told Doe he and other student employees "thought [Doe] might be gay." Doe told investigators he watched in shock as Chadima then removed Doe's belt and put his hand down Doe's pants, touching his genitals.
After Doe slapped Chadima's hand away, Chadima allegedly retorted, "I thought you liked it," asked, "What are you going to do about it?" and told Doe, "I could have you fired."
Soon after, Doe told supervisors about the incident, but said he did not want them to take immediate action out of fear of disrupting the football team's Rose Bowl preparations.
After returning to Madison, Doe's supervisors reported the incident to UW-Madison Police, which encouraged him to contact the Dean of Student's Office. The supervisors chose to contact Athletic Department officials instead.
The supervisors then met with several Athletic Department officials before the department turned its investigation over to the chancellor's office following the University Legal Counsel's advice.
The same day, Chancellor Ward and Athletic Director Barry Alvarez placed Chadima on administrative leave as they continued investigations.
The report concluded that Chadima's parties were "in effect, university events," because the Athletic Department purchased the alcohol served in a university official's hotel suite.
In response to the allegations in the report, Chadima released a statement Tuesday expressing regret and apologizing to his co-workers, friends and family.
"I make no excuses and have come to the realization that over the past few months, alcohol had controlled and consumed my life," Chadima said in the statement. "I take full responsibility for my lack of judgment and actions that evening."
In addition to the allegations involving Doe, investigators discovered a series of text messages between Chadima and a different student employee, in which Chadima demanded the student come to his hotel suite and threatened to fire him if he did not comply. According to the statement, the student was unwilling to talk with investigators.
Investigators said many interviewed for the report were "shocked" by the allegations as they, including Doe, described Chadima as friendly, supportive and highly respected.
