Finally, a real inquiry on Colorado football after three sue for recruit party rapes.(Newswatch)(University of Colorado at Boulder)

It must have been a wild party in December 2001, at which football players at the University of Colorado at Boulder tried to impress recruits with advantages of playing with the Buffaloes.

Three women have independently sued the school, claiming that football players and recruits raped them after the party, and the university cultivates a climate that condones the harassment and victimization of women, which is a violation of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex bias in educational programs.

It was only after the third suit, filed in January 2004, that the women's claims got attention. After a public outcry, Governor Bill Owens wrote to the University of Colorado regents that the university must disclose all facts surrounding the charges or he would "take whatever steps necessary to protect the integrity of the school." He wrote: "Women are not recruiting tools."

UC president Elizabeth Hoffman worked with the board of regents, which appointed a commission to investigate the allegations. Heading it are two former Colorado lawmakers, Joyce Lawrence and Peggy Lamm. Other members are two former justices from the Colorado Supreme Court, a lawyer, a church bishop, a victim's advocate and a former FBI employee.

The eight include four women and four men, three minorities and two advocates for women and victims. The regents added a woman at the urging of the panel heads. Lamm said, "I don't necessarily go in for gender politics," but it's "good to have another person on board."

* In 1997, a woman reported being raped at a football recruiting party. In a deposition taken in October 2003, Boulder district attorney Mary Keenan said that back in February 1998, she put AD Dick Tharp and others on notice of her suspicions that the football team was using sex and alcohol to recruit high school prospects. "They decided after discussing the history, that they would not change anything because they could not afford to lose the competitive edge against universities such as Oklahoma and Nebraska," Keenan asserted.

* In December 2001, an off-campus party attended by six ...