University of Colorado Chancellor Phil DiStefano will receive a 10-day suspension in the wake of an investigation into the university’s handling of domestic violence allegations against former University of Colorado football assistant coach Joe Tumpkin.

The Board of Regents announced the suspension on Monday afternoon during an intense board meeting and subsequent news conference. Before the news conference began, regents fled the room, evading reporters’ questions.

Ken Salazar, the Democratic ex-senator and former interior secretary who was retained by the board, presented a summary of a report of the investigation that was released after the meeting. CU hired outside legal counsel from the firm Cozen O’Connor to investigate the university’s handling of the domestic violence allegations.

Salazar said the investigation showed there was no intent to cover up or break the law. “Mistakes were made,” he said, but there was no ill intent.

In addition to DiStefano’s suspension, Athletic Director Rick George and CU head football coach Mike MacIntyre will each make a $100,000 contribution to domestic violence organization.

The attorney for the victim who accused Tumpkin of abusing her for two years — verbally and violently including strangulation and beatings so severe that they required stitches and dental work — said his client was “betrayed and devastated” by these lenient punishments.

“Punishments are more severe for recruiting violations,” said New York-based attorney Peter Ginsberg, who received the report Monday along with the public and press. “The idea that the athletic director and head coach responsible have punishments that pale in comparison to routine infractions is simply hard to comprehend. We are just so deeply disappointed in how CU has reacted to this serious breach of loyalty to my client and the community.”

CU President Bruce Benson acknowledged that some might think his punishments were not fit for the situation.

“Some will say these disciplinary actions go too far. Some will say they don’t go far enough. Not everyone will be happy,” he said during the special regents meeting.

Ginsberg did feel the outside investigation was fair and thorough.

A Daily Camera Colorado Open Records Act request for the full report was denied under the pretenses of attorney-client privilege and personnel matters.

Among many contradictory and startling statements made by all investigated parties in the Cozen O’Connor report, the outside investigators confirm parts of allegations made by the victim and Ginsberg in a notice of claim signaling intent to sue the university for its botched handling of the case.

Ginsberg alleged in the legal document that MacIntyre’s assistant deleted a key email from the accuser reaching out to MacIntyre to share the abuse allegations for the first time. The report confirms that MacIntyre’s assistant saw the Dec. 7 email from the accuser but did not show it to MacIntyre because she knew, through Tumpkin, that the victim and MacIntyre had already spoken.

When pressed on the matter, CU spokesman Ken McConnellogue did not know whether this meant the assistant deleted the email or otherwise filtered it. He could not provide further information about the interaction.

Ginsberg pointed to this as evidence of a cover-up.

McConnellogue previously said there were statements and inferences made in the notice of claim that are not accurate, but he declined to specify them.

Additionally, the victim alleged MacIntyre blocked her calls after she shared the abuse allegations with him. The Cozen O’Connor report confirms that MacIntyre did block her calls and initially lied about his reasoning for doing so. He first said he decided to because he didn’t want his actions to influence the situation, but it later came out that his private legal counsel, Lisa Wayne, advised him to block the accuser’s number.

“MacIntyre said that he thought ‘whoa, if she texts me 15 or 30 times — I am going to look like the liaison, like the mediator —- I asked (Wayne for advice), because no matter what I say, I am going to look like I am guilty,'” the report reads.

Wayne told MacIntyre: “This was not about anybody else now — it was about him and I told him he had to protect himself.'”

When DiStefano first learned about the abuse allegations, his initial reactions were that there wasn’t much evidence and that he didn’t think it had to be reported.

Despite telling Cozen O’Connor he “built the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance” and hired executive director of the office Valerie Simons, he repeatedly told George there was no need to report the victim’s allegations because it was off-campus and between a university employee and non-employee.

“I kick myself every day,” DiStefano told Cozen O’Connor. “I should have just picked up the phone and called Valerie. Hindsight is 20/20 … That’s on me, I take that responsibility,” the report reads.

Benson found out about the domestic violence allegations during the week of Dec. 16 when DiStefano called to say there was “something going on in athletics.” The CU President told Cozen O’Connor that he can’t remember what DiStefano told him, adding: “I got too many things going on.” He said he assumed DiStefano or Simons would take care of the matter.

But they did not.

The investigation found three main “failures” by CU: a failure to report the domestic violence allegations; a failure to report those allegations to law enforcement; and a failure of supervision of Tumpkin.

A timeline of events places Tumpkin on staff through the Buffs’ Dec. 29 Alamo Bowl game despite MacIntyre finding out about the domestic violence allegations on Dec. 9. After discussion about what to do with Tumpkin for the game, George made the call to put him in the game.

Justifying this decision to Cozen O’Connor, George said, “All we had is an allegation from a lady that we don’t know very well who had one or two phone calls with [MacIntyre] — that was it — I wish we knew then all the information.”

The victim was repeatedly trying to contact MacIntyre to give him more information, but her phone calls were not going through. Voicemails left on MacIntyre’s phone have the victim saying she has the utmost respect for MacIntyre and the football program. She said she “did not want to put him in an Art Briles situation.” Art Briles is the former head football coach at Baylor University who was dismissed from Baylor in 2016 when sexual assault and domestic violence allegations surfaced in his program.

Tumpkin’s ex-girlfriend told MacIntyre on Dec. 9 that Tumpkin had repeatedly and violently abused her for the last two years. At some point after this, MacIntyre informed George about the allegations. George then informed DiStefano.

The victim left a voicemail for MacIntyre on Dec. 15, saying she was taking the allegations to the police and filing for a restraining order.

MacIntyre still chose Tumpkin to call defensive plays in the Buffs’ appearance at the Alamo Bowl. CU claims not to have heard about the restraining order until Jan. 6 when a Daily Camera reporter called with questions for the university.

Tumpkin was suspended Jan. 6 and asked to resign on Jan. 27. On Feb. 1, he was arrested and later charged with five felony counts of second-degree assault. He’s the subject of ongoing criminal prosecution in Broomfield.

DiStefano said he chose not to report the domestic abuse allegations because he didn’t believe he had to, based on university policy.

Cozen O’Connor recently investigated Baylor University and produced a report showing that the university did not take seriously complaints of women who had been assaulted by football players. Their investigation resulted in Baylor firing Briles, suspending its athletic director and demoting university President Kenneth Starr.

The CU Board of Regents passed the decision to Benson on how to handle the university’s failure to report accusations of domestic violence against Tumpkin. After a May Board of Regents meeting with a nearly seven-hour executive session, the regents released a statement saying they had a “collaborative discussion on issues surrounding” the matter. The statement also said: “The board directed President Bruce Benson, in consultation with the board, to outline any necessary changes to university policies and procedures, specify how training and education will be enhanced, and recommend appropriate action for CU employees involved.”

In addition to the previously mentioned disciplinary actions, Benson directed the chancellor, athletic director, coaches, himself and his executive staff to have immediate, in-person training for Title IX and domestic violence. He is issuing letters of reprimand and expectation to the chancellor, athletic director and football coach and will be reviewing existing policies to make them more clear and more precise.

The report makes it clear that all parties involved should have known their reporting duties and failed to follow through, leaving this question in the report that the victim asked Tumpkin’s attorney lingering: “No one is questioning that the guy choked me for two years, but everyone is on pins and needles because they want to know if I am going to the police and not that they have an abusive man on staff?”

Elizabeth Hernandez: 303-473-1106, hernandeze@dailycamera.com