Officials masked sex allegations

Recently released documents show that University administrators agreed to give job recommendations to a former coach whom three female students had accused of touching them sexually.

The Index obtained on Monday the personnel file of Charles D. Arabas, University swimming and diving coach from 1985 to 1992, from the Northern Arizona University Police Department after a Coconino County, Ariz., judge subpoenaed the file from Truman.                   

Arabas is awaiting trial on 19 felony counts of sexual abuse with female members of a high school swim team he coached in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Arabas' personnel file contains explicit accusations of sexual misconduct with  members of Truman's swimming and diving team in 1992, as well as the University's agreement to let Arabas resign and provide him with recommendations and references to future employers "in order not to hinder further his chance for finding a new job," according to a Feb. 23, 1993, letter written by Truman's former general counsel and current Adair County commissioner, Ray Klinginsmith. The records also state that Truman, then Northeast Missouri State University, did not bring the matter to the attention of law enforcement and agreed to leave the sexual harassment charges unresolved.

Personnel records can be kept closed under Missouri's Sunshine Law. These records are open in Arizona, however. University General Counsel Warren Wells said the open records laws are far more broad there.

"We never intended for these records to be made public," Wells said.

The Chronicle of Higher Education, a newspaper widely read by college and university administrators and faculty nationwide, reported in its Feb. 12 online edition that Arabas was being charged in Arizona and similar allegations had been left unresolved at Truman.

Wells said in the Chronicle article that the University is under no legal responsibility to open any information in a former employee's personnel file. He added that the accusations against Arabas were never proven.

"It's a catch-22 for employers," Wells told the Chronicle. "Do you repeat allegations that are unproven, even though it could open you up to defamation charges?"

Complaints

The records contain detailed complaints from three female swimming and diving team members who outlined Arabas' increasingly inappropriate behavior. The women said, according to the documents, that eventually he would ask them to come to the Natatorium at night in a dark room in which he would give them massages alone when no one else was in the building. The women said they were in a lot of pain from training and thought the massages might relieve the pain. One said she was worried about losing her scholarship and team standing if she did not do what Arabas asked. They said they wore swimsuits or underwear with shorts and T-shirts or sweatshirts. All three said that with each massage session, they grew more uncomfortable and felt like they were progressively losing control.

One complainant described in her formal complaint to the vice president for academic affairs dated Nov. 6, 1992, what happened the second time Arabas asked her to come for a massage

"After he massaged my back, he moved his hands down my pants under my underwear and massaged the outside of my buttocks," she wrote. "His fingers then went between my butt cheeks into my crack ... from the top, near my lower back, down past my anal area to my vagina. He spent between five and 10 minutes on my entire buttocks."

The complainant also said she put in a tampon before the massage sessions to prevent Arabas from entering her.

"I was too afraid that saying 'no' would make him mad, and he would go further," she said.

The other two women made similar complaints, accusing Arabas of touching their breasts and genitals. One complainant said that when a Department of Public Safety officer walked in on one of the massages, Arabas ordered her to stay quiet while he explained to the officer that "it was OK because I was a diver, and he was my coach."

When the three women realized Arabas was doing the same thing to all of them, they brought formal complaints to the former vice president for academic affairs, Jack Magruder, who now is University president.

Magruder would not comment Tuesday.

Chronology

The women first met with Susie Bair on Oct. 13, 1992. Bair was associate athletic director at the time. The women submitted their formal written complaints to Magruder on Nov. 9, 1992. Arabas and Cornelis Koutstaal, the former head of the division of human potential and performance, were informed of the complaints three days later. Arabas stepped down from his position as coach that day but remained Natatorium director.

Koutstaal completed an investigation into the sexual harassment charges Dec. 4, 1992. He found that Arabas had violated the Sexual Harassment Policy. He wrote in a letter to Magruder that Arabas should be placed on probation immediately and that his contract should not be renewed for the next academic year.

"I believe that Mr. Arabas has been seriously at fault," Koutstaal wrote.

Magruder placed Arabas on probation and ordered him not to have any contact with members of the swim team and not to be alone with female students. Arabas appealed the decision to the then-newly created Sexual Harassment Board on Dec. 22, 1992.

Arabas told the Board he was innocent in a document titled "Response to Sexual Harassment." He said in a written response to the sexual harassment charges that he gave massages at the consent of the athletes, and that massage was a popular technique for relieving pain from the stress the athletes' muscles endured. He said his method was called trigger point therapy, and he focused on relieving knots in muscles.

Colleen Murphy, current head swimming coach, said swimmers do rely on massage and rubdowns to ease their sore muscles, particularly in the upper body. She said trigger point therapy is widely recognized to be beneficial for swimmers.

She said all Truman swimmers go to the training room for all treatment and massage. The training room has three professional trainers and students in the training program.

"We're so lucky because we've got an amazing training staff that does a great job," Murphy said.

Murphy said she does not give massages because she is not trained in it, but she said it is not unusual for coaches at smaller colleges and high school clubs without training staffs to administer massage.

Arabas wrote in his response statement that he had coached and provided massages for 15 years, and such accusations were "completely foreign" to his character.

"I maintain that I am innocent of all accusations," Arabas wrote. "Nonetheless, it is obvious that I must prove my innocence. Proving innocence is no small task."

Arabas wrote that the absurdity of the accusations would serve in his defense.

Coverup

Klinginsmith wrote in a Feb. 23, 1993, letter to the female complainants that the University had negotiated with Arabas' attorney to "settl[e] the matter without a hearing." Klinginsmith wrote that the University would go forward with a hearing with the Sexual Harassment Board at the request of the women or Arabas.

The same letter also stated that the University and Arabas had reached an agreement.

"In order to resolve the matter without a hearing, Chuck [Arabas] is willing to take the following actions: 1. He will immediately submit his resignation, effective at the end of his current contract on June 30th, 1993. 2. He will promise not to sue or in any other way retaliate against any of you for filing the complaints of sexual harassment."

This letter also stated the actions the University promised to take.

"At the end of the swimming and diving season, Dr. Magruder will remove [Arabas] from probation in order not to hinder further his chances for finding a new job. ... The University will hold in abeyance [Arabas'] appeal of the findings of sexual harassment, which will have the effect of leaving the appeal on file with the final question of the sexual harassment charges unresolved by mutual agreement," the letter said.

The letter also said the University would provide Arabas recommendations to future employers.

"The recommendations will not be a coverup or a whitewash of the sexual harassment allegations," the letter said.

It went on to explain the responses the University would give if a future employer asked about the allegations.

"A further response will be that Chuck [Arabas] already had paid a price for the allegations and that he has been sensitized to the power of sexual harassment complaints," Klinginsmith's letter said. "Therefore, it is believed he will hereafter avoid any ambiguous behavior in which his motives can be questioned."

Moving on

Arabas submitted his letter of resignation March 25, 1993. He was hired by Northern Arizona University that summer. NAU didn't require formal background checks of employees until 2000. Arabas worked as the Wall Aquatic Center Director and coached a coed swim team of high school students for the Northern Arizona Swimming Association.

Seven girls, all former or current members of the team, have reported that Arabas touched them inappropriately. Reports from the NAU Police Department included interviews with victims who said the touching happened during massage sessions and was not inappropriate in the beginning. As time progressed, sometimes over a period of years, Arabas would move to touching the girls' breasts and genitals. One indicated Arabas began touching her inappropriately as early as 1996.

One girl said Arabas' massage therapies did work out some knots in their muscles, and he emphasized to the girls that it was important for them to keep coming for therapies, so that is why they returned. The girl told police she was young and didn't realize Arabas was manipulating her. Several girls reported that Arabas would jerk away when someone else came in or knocked on the door. According to the reports, several girls told police Arabas had touched their pubic hair or genitals or had penetrated them with his fingers.

The NAU Police Department began investigating Arabas after a police report was filed with the Flagstaff, Ariz., Police Department on Sept. 23, 2002, by the parents of a boy on the swim team who said their son's girlfriend had been touched inappropriately by her swim coach.

Arabas was arrested Nov. 26, 2002, and formally charged with 14 counts of sexual abuse and 5 counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. His bond was lowered from $100,000 to $10,000 Dec. 24, 2002, and he is no longer in custody. David Rozema, chief deputy Coconino County, Ariz., prosecutor, said a hearing is set for April 9 to 10 to determine the admissibility of Arabas' records from Truman in accordance with an Arizona law that states that records of past acts generally are not admissible evidence in court.

Arabas is scheduled to go to trial July 8.