Black Student Groups Say Cleary Broke a Pact : CS Northridge: President criticized over timing of release of report on racism in athletic department.

Outgoing Cal State Northridge President James W. Cleary broke an oral agreement when he released a task-force report on racism in the athletic department to reporters and administrators before showing it to the group that requested it, black leaders said Wednesday.

The Black Student-Athletes Assn. and Black Student Union made an agreement with Cleary that when the report was ready it would be reviewed and discussed by those parties before anyone else saw it, according to BSAA president Patrick Johnson and BSU president Karen Brannon.

Cleary violated that agreement, Brannon contends, when he made the report available to Athletic Director Bob Hiegert and the media Friday.

Brannon and Johnson were not aware the report was released Friday and copies were not made available to them until Monday, they said.

Cleary refused comment. Fred Strache, the acting vice president of student affairs, also would not comment, according to spokesperson Mindy Berman.

Brannon also said that the university’s statement to the press that she canceled a Friday meeting with Cleary and would pick up the report Monday was not true.

“That made me look very bad,” she said. “It read as if I had the opportunity to get the report when everyone else did. Like I didn’t want to pick it up and that it was my fault that I couldn’t be reached for comment.

“There was no attempt on their part to get a copy to the BSU or the BSAA. And (Cleary) knows I did not cancel an appointment with him Friday. We discussed having a meeting Friday and we realized Monday was better.

“I am extremely disappointed. This was unethical, a breach of an oral contract.”

Webster Moore, a member of the task force and the adviser to the BSU, said the mishandled release of the report is just another example of the administration’s insensitivity.

“Everyone was shocked that (Cleary) talked to the press on Friday,” Moore said. “Not only had he read it and talked to the press, he showed it to other departments and Bob Hiegert. Everyone had a chance to see it before the students, who were the ones who brought up (the issue of racism).

“For the students to be treated like this is the whole problem. It is stating that students are really last.”

Blenda J. Wilson was named Tuesday to replace Cleary, who is retiring June 30. Wilson is the first black, and the first woman president, in school history.