Arizona State men’s basketball coach Bobby Hurley reportedly sent athletic director Ray Anderson an email in early December, alleging Anderson downplayed the magnitude of sexual assault accusations from three ASU staffers’ wives against one of the school’s prominent boosters, according to Yahoo!
In the email exchange, which Yahoo! says it obtained via a FOIA request, Hurley wrote that Anderson “disregarded the safety and [has] shown no sensitivity towards the women that have experienced sexual assault.”
The emails from Hurley to Anderson are newly uncovered pieces of information which stem from a series of incidents dating back to the beginning of the college basketball season. Three women accused prominent Arizona State donor, Bart Wear, of groping and harassment. Wear has since been banned from all Arizona State University events.
Hurley also suggested Anderson devised a numeric scale in which he assessed the magnitude of the womens’ harassment claims. One of the claims came from Hurley’s wife, Leslie, with Hurley questioning if Anderson’s actions would have been different had the accusations come from his own family members.
“Maybe in your words, the sexual assault committed by (redacted) was a two or a three, but if this had happened to Buffie or Kimmy, would it still be a level 2 or 3?” Hurley reportedly wrote in the email. “You have chosen to create your own numeric scale on what sexual assault mean(s) which is disturbing.”
In late February, assistant athletic director David Cohen claimed he was fired after asking Anderson to investigate the allegations from the three women, one of whom was his wife. Cohen’s wife, Kathy, was the first of the three women to come forward. Afterwards, Leslie Hurley told Cohen that Wear would “inappropriately put his hand on her leg.” Kathy Cohen’s claim dates back to a Pac-12 tournament basketball game in March of 2019, where she alleges Wear touched her inappropriately.
The three women have since filed a notice of claim, which is a precursor to a lawsuit, with detailed allegations about their sexual assault instances including Wear. Wear has denied all allegations and is seeking $5 million for what he is calling a “hatchet job” and “character assassination.”
Hurley’s email to Anderson came one day after Arizona State’s home victory over Lousiana-Lafayette, where Hurley was angry about Wear’s “highly visible” seating during the game. This was well after Arizona State’s investigation into Wear was underway and just days after Anderson attended a basketball practice and told Hurley that Wear “would no longer be around men’s basketball,” according to the email.
David Cohen also has a $1.5 million notice of claim alleging he was fired in retaliation for pushing Arizona State officials to investigate Wear.
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