Notre Dame to release findings of Declan Sullivan investigation Monday

The University of Notre Dame will hold a news conference Monday to announce the findings of its internal probe into the Oct. 27 aerial lift collapse that killed Declan Sullivan, a junior film student from Long Grove.

Participants in the conference will include Notre Dame President the Rev. John I. Jenkins; head football coach Brian Kelly; Peter Likins, president emeritus of the University of Arizona and an independent reviewer of the investigation; and Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick.

The release comes a little more than a month after the Indiana Department of Labor fined the university $77,500 after ruling it was negligent in the death of the 20-year-old Sullivan.

The agency’s findings included that the school improperly maintained equipment and trained staff on how to use the scissor lifts from which Sullivan was videotaping football practice when it collapsed. The lift’s manufacturer warned against using the equipment in winds greater than 28 mph, according to the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration, but Sullivan was suspended 35-feet in the air in winds that had reached 53 mph that day.

Notre Dame has until mid-June to appeal the findings or pay the fine.