Columnist Steve Carp: Those who speak out at UNLV will be safe

NOW THAT IT'S out in the open, the time has come to once and for all resolve the matter in the UNLV athletic director's office.

Did Charlie Cavagnaro call UNLV athletes "monkeys" or "apes?" Did he refer to the softball team as "Dykes in Spikes?" Or is there some big conspiracy within the athletic department to besmirch Cavagnaro's good name and force him out the door?

For weeks, no one has been willing to come forward and speak for the record. But now that UNLV President Dr. Carol Harter has publicly challenged those who know to do so, they should take her up on it.

UNLV needs to get this resolved now. You can't have this kind of a cloud hanging over the program. The longer it lingers, the more of a negative effect it will have.

The main fear has been reprisal for speaking out openly. But Harter has cleared a path by her public comments last week. She wouldn't dare mess with anyone who came forward and spoke the truth. The court of public opinion would come down on her so quickly, she wouldn't know what hit her.

More important, if anyone at UNLV tried to retaliate against those who spoke out, they would be nailed with a lawsuit they surely would lose.

It is for those reasons those who claim to have heard Cavagnaro make these alleged racial remarks need to step up to the plate and tell what they know. The timing will never be better than it is now.

At the same time, Cavagnaro should come forward and either vehemently deny he made these remarks or admit he said them and explain why he said them.

He has had that opportunity for weeks. Yet when a local television station asked him for his side after a former UNLV employee anonymously stated two weeks ago Cavagnaro had indeed used the racial slurs, Cavagnaro declined the chance to give his side.

Cavagnaro has told me he can't recall saying anything of the sort while adding that if he ever did say anything, he would certainly want the opportunity to apologize publicly.

To me, that's somewhat vague. And if he's suffering from selective amnesia, then it's time for those who claim to have heard him say these things in meetings or elsewhere to jog his memory.

Perhaps those athletic department employees would be best served if they went to the university administration en masse and gave their side of the story. Again, there's no way they could be touched because there's simply too much public scrutiny at this point. As they say, in numbers, there's strength.

Conversely, Cavagnaro has the right to face his accusers. But this can't continue to fester. There must be closure.

If Cavagnaro did indeed make those remarks, he must be dealt with swiftly. If he didn't, then he needs to get back to running the athletic department uninhibited.

Two weeks ago, I intimated that courage was in short supply in the UNLV athletic department. What little remains needs to be brought out and displayed publicly.

And the sooner, the better.

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