Like Priests, Only in Gym Shorts
This past December an expose of the National Collegiate Athletic Association found horrifying evidence of what I like to call "rapist trafficking" among their athletes. Like the Catholic church, the NCAA has found ways to hide their demons in plain site, by moving them around from school to school. It's a horrifying reality, but it's truly amazing what organizations will help you get away with if you can run fast, throw a ball, or have a direct line to our Lord.
Ball is Eternal Life
College Sports and Sexual Assault - Name a More Iconic Duo
In an article called "The Predator Pipeline", USA Today broke the story that college athletes who are proven responsible for sexual assaults can continue to play for the NCAA, regardless of whether or not they have been suspended, expelled, are facing, or have been convicted of criminal charges. Even worse, sexual offenders are able to transfer from school to school without damaging their athletic careers so long as they haven't committed any other infractions from the organizations' 440-page rulebook that would bar them from playing.
So we're clear, the NCAA has regulations surrounding weed, bad grades, and accepting free meals, but not a single rule citing "penalties for sexual, violent or criminal misconduct." In essence, you can rape as many women as you'd like and we'll turn a blind eye, but don't you dare flunk a test.
In terms of the actual repercussions of allowing these loopholes to exist, USA Today found 28 athletes in the last 5 years who had transferred schools despite being disciplined for a sexual offence at another college. They also discovered more 5 athletes who continued playing after being "convicted or disciplined for such offences through the courts."
This is absolutely terrifying. Before we even get into how morally awful this is, it's important to note that this might only be a drop in the bucket. Many schools refused to provide records for USA Today's reporting, and, lest we forget, we are only discussing assaults that were reported and where these athletes were found responsible.
USA Today broke it down in this AMAZING chart.
We also know that predators are likely to re-offend. Research shows that only a few students commit the majority of sexual assaults on campuses. With that in mind, shipping a previously disciplined athlete to a new school is like sending a fox into a fresh chicken coop. Or, perhaps a more on-the-nose comparison, like giving a rapist a gold star and a fresh batch of victims any time they caught.
What an amazingly inventive way to create a serial monster.
As for the campuses themselves, schools ARE federally required to investigate reported sexual assaults; however, if found responsible the most severe punishment an academic institution can bestow on an offender is expulsion. Unless charges are pressed externally, there is no process for preventing rapists from reoffending off campus. And, as we've seen, there is also nothing preventing expelled athletes from transferring to a new school to play. In fact, the NCAA itself reports that 12% of their current Division I student-athletes have transferred in from other campuses. Just for reference, 12% is roughly 55,000 athletes, so we aren't taking about a couple rogue stars that are forced to move. Transferring is an extremely common part of the university world; therefore, it's also the easiest way for a predator to hide in plain site.
More Money, More Rapists
All of this begs the question, is throwing a ball well worth the safety of other students? Unfortunately, to schools the dollar amount might just be. Business Insider reports that the NCAA brings in $1 billion in revenue annually, so players are hot commodities. It's unfortunately not surprising that good players are quickly picked up by new teams no matter what's on their track record. Talent often trumps ethics when it comes to financial gain.
And, of course, it's not just players. We can't forget that coaches and administration are in on this as well. Back in 2012 former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was found guilty of sexually abusing 10 young boys over 15 years, and campus officials "failed to notify law enforcement after learning about some of these incidents."
Those were children. But, again, no one was required to do anything. There was no incentive for people to come forward besides their own moral compass, and even that must have been skewed by the potential to lose their team money, games, and prestige. In college sports it appears that turning a blind eye is just as common as turning the other cheek in the archdioceses.
No Means No
Luckily, there are some badass women fighting back. On the heels of the USA Today article, 7 women are now suing the NCAA for negligence, stating that the organization failed to protect them from sexual assaults. The lawsuit states that the NCAA "knew or should have known that their actions or inaction in light of the rate and extent of sexual assaults reported ... by male student-athletes ... would cause harm to female student-athletes and non-student-athletes at NCAA member institution campuses"
This news broke in April, and it was the beginning of what I hope will be an adjustment to the "don't ask don't tell" mindset of sexual assault and misconduct in college sports. A far as I'm concerned, these schools are liable and culpable for any duress experienced by these female athletes.
And some change did happen! Barely two weeks after the lawsuit was filed the NCAA made changes to their sexual violence policy. They announced that athletes must "annually disclose acts of violence that resulted in an investigation or discipline through a Title IX proceeding or criminal conviction," which will hopefully make it more challenging to transfer to a new team after an offence.
Even with this new policy, The Gist aptly points out that "there are still no rules that restrict the eligibility of athletes who have committed these acts". Meaning the blind eye factor is as real as ever, but at least we're moving in the right direction.
For those who haven't spent time researching the NCAA policies, here is the simple definition of Title IX:
"A part of the Education Amendment Act of 1972, which prevents discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs."
Because college sports are "educational" programs, they are federally regulated by the Department of Education - which we all know is running amazingly smoothly at the moment......(spoiler alert).
Heavens to Betsy
We knew it was too good to be true...
Only a week after the NCAA made huge stride with their policy change, US Secretary of Education and literal demon Betsy DeVos announced new Title IX regulations. Of course.
There are a bunch of changes, so I'll try to keep it simple. The most troublesome revision no longer requires coaches or university staff to report allegations of sexual misconduct to the Title IX office. This means the new NCAA policy is pretty much null and void. How relevant is it for athletes to disclose any Title IX proceedings they endured if faculty no longer has to file complaints to Title IX in the first place?
The second worst change is the new and improved definition of "sexual harassment" as conduct that is “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it denies a person equal educational access". The problem here is the word "and". It narrows the definition and makes it even more of a challenge to prove defendants guilty, when the cases are already a "he said, she said" situation.
Lastly, prior guidelines discouraged informational resolutions for sexual assault allegations, but the new regulations allow for the option of informal hearings and mediation. This sounds okay in theory, but The New Yorker points out that "there is a legitimate worry that schools could pressure victims into informal processes, which cost less than formal ones." For example, instead of presenting a board with the facts of the case, they could insist on a mediation process where a victim has to just "talk it out" with her accused rapist. Add in the fact that this male athlete is a valuable asset to the school financially and you start to envision how these informal sessions are less conducive to any real problem solving.
Don’t Stop the Player, Stop The Game
Only time will tell how these new Title IX regulations will affect the NCAA when they start their seasons again. Though their new sexual violence policy is a step in the right direction, there is absolutely zero federal requirement to uphold it, and the public is already distracted by the debates around COVID and sports. Who the hell knows what comes next in the college sports world anyway? As it stands, most college sports aren't coming back in the fall, and institutions are cutting down on their athletic programs to save cash.
That said, when it comes to the sexual assault policy, the NCAA can make the choice to maintain these new expectations on their own, which I'm hoping they do. I would also love them to take it a step further and create their own definition of what constitutes sexual misconduct and enforce bans on players who have been found responsible for sexual assault.
Personally, I don't think that's a lot to ask.
At the end of the day, it's not the teams or schools that will lose out - there are always more players - it's the other students and victims who have to share their campuses with known rapists and re-offender. This also sets a horrible example for athletes who this behaviour as acceptable and begin to believe they are above the rules.
If we want to live in a world where we stop seeing #cancelled trending on Twitter every week, maybe we should prevent these people from getting famous in the first place. College athletes go on to play in major sports leagues where they have more influence and more access. If we can discern which players deserve that opportunity based on skill AND professional conduct, I think the sports world would be a better place.
Or, at least consistently better than the Catholic Church.
