State University of New York officials said today that they don’t have a timeline for when an investigation of Binghamton University athletics will be completed but said it will be done “expeditiously.”

   The investigation was prompted by a serious of events, including the arrest last month of basketball player Emanual “Tiki” Mayben, on charges of possessing and selling crack cocaine. He was kicked off the team. Five other players were subsequently dropped from the team for unspecified rules violations.

   Joel Thirer, Binghamton athletics director, was reassigned to the provost’s office and basketball coach Kevin Broadus is on a paid leave of absence. Adjunct faculty member Sally Dear accused the university of not rehiring her as an adjunct faculty member because she has publicly criticized the school’s athletics program.

   “What we want to know is whether anything improper has occurred within the basketball program. We want to know whether what has occurred has had implications for the admissions process, for the integrity of the grading system, for the integrity of the relationship between faculty members and students, and beyond that, we want this investigation to go where the facts take it,” said Carl Hayden of Elmira, SUNY trustees chairman.

   “Binghamton University is one of the finest public universities in America. It was yesterday. It will be tomorrow,” he said. “This is a cloud that is temporary, but it is part of our obligation as trustees to make sure that the problem there just now is dealt with forthrightly and as much in the open as possible.”

   Hayden said he could not provide a total figure for how much the probe would cost.  The money for the investigation is coming out of SUNY’s budget, not Binghamton’s, he said. Former state Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye is heading up the probe.

   Hayden said it’s important not to cast aspersions on anyone while the investigation is ongoing.

   “I’m concerned about the integrity of our process and I just want to make sure that since we’re charged with overseeing this investigation, we ensure that to the extent humanly possible both the investigative process is impartial and I know that under the leadership of Judge Kaye it will be, and that our involvement remain impartial because ultimately we’re going to be the arbiters of what we read and we’re going to be making decisions and recommendations based upon investigative findings.”