Im not linking it because they don't deserve the clicks.
The news coming out of University of Tennessee Knoxville's athletics program is troubling.
It involves a lack of accountability, secrecy, alleged gender bias, controversy over rebranding andinconsistencies in how allegations against male studentsinvolving sexual assaults are handled.
All of it reinforces the notion that colleges are hostile to people, especially women, who challenge the prevailing campus culture that glorifies hypersexuality and hypermasculinity, protects athletes even if they might be engaging in illegal or unethical behavior, and models unhealthy behaviors for young men that celebrate sexism and misogyny over respect for women.
To be sure, the University of Tennessee is not alone, as last month's convictions of two former Vanderbilt University football players showed, but the angst surrounding these issues should alarm Tennessean taxpayers, the UT campus community, alumni and the board of trustees, which is headed by Gov. Bill Haslam.
Trustees need to make sure the university's priorities are in the right place; they certainly don't seem to be now. And trustees ought to find answers to the following questions of whether:
• University officials are or are not investigating and resolving sexual assault reports against student-athletes in a fair, consistent and equitable manner
• Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Dave Hart, who comes with a history of winning but also a history of gender bias lawsuits and complaints, is operating without sufficient checks and balances. He is operating the department like a fiefdom.
Dave H
• Eliminating the Lady Vols name for all of the women's teams, save for basketball,may have unnecessarily harmed the university and favored male teams
• Closing meetings of the athletics board denied the public and the media the right to observe and follow conversations that involve and affect the public university's operations
The board will have its chance to bring up these issues at its meeting in Memphis on Feb. 25-26 and it should.
On Sunday The Tennessean recounted the story of a female former University of Tennessee student who accused a male student-athlete of raping her. She chose to report it to university officials, but not to the police, and her complaint was dismissed and her alleged assailant cleared.
The report also showed that only two of 19 sexual assaults reported to the federal government by the University of Tennessee between 2011 and 2013 resulted in completed student disciplinary proceedings.
Hart, who previously worked at Florida State University and the University of Alabama, reports directly to the chancellor and implemented the changes to the program that merged male and female athletics programs.
Two federal lawsuits filed against UT and directed in part at Hart allege gender discrimination, an athletics department disproportionately managed by men, and male employees receiving better jobs with better pay than women in the department.
The Lady Vols controversy brought supporters to Capitol Hill last week to advocate for letting all UT Knoxville women's teams keep the name.
University officials conducted a four-year branding study, announced in November, that places all teams, men and women, under the "Tennessee Volunteers" banner, with one exception: the women's basketball team, which gained fame and victories under former Coach Pat Summitt's leadership.
Opponents decry the university turning its back on the uniqueness of the women's team.
University officials say the merging of men's and women's athletics has resulted in better facilities and treatment for women, something the lawsuits challenge.
Then there's Hart reducing the athletics board from 41 to 18 members and, in 2014, closing the board's proceedings to the public after a 24-year history of openness and adhering to the spirit of the Sunshine Law.
According to the Tennessee Coalition on Open Government, in 2014 the board met three times in secret to discuss important issues such as "NCAA violations, an athletics budget of about $100 million and the academic performance of the school's 500 student-athletes."
The actions create the perception that the university is trying to operate in a secretive fashion and avoid accountability.
That cannot continue. The board needs to get involved - including Haslam - and the priorities and culture need to change.
The news coming out of University of Tennessee Knoxville's athletics program is troubling.
It involves a lack of accountability, secrecy, alleged gender bias, controversy over rebranding andinconsistencies in how allegations against male studentsinvolving sexual assaults are handled.
All of it reinforces the notion that colleges are hostile to people, especially women, who challenge the prevailing campus culture that glorifies hypersexuality and hypermasculinity, protects athletes even if they might be engaging in illegal or unethical behavior, and models unhealthy behaviors for young men that celebrate sexism and misogyny over respect for women.
To be sure, the University of Tennessee is not alone, as last month's convictions of two former Vanderbilt University football players showed, but the angst surrounding these issues should alarm Tennessean taxpayers, the UT campus community, alumni and the board of trustees, which is headed by Gov. Bill Haslam.
Trustees need to make sure the university's priorities are in the right place; they certainly don't seem to be now. And trustees ought to find answers to the following questions of whether:
• University officials are or are not investigating and resolving sexual assault reports against student-athletes in a fair, consistent and equitable manner
• Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Dave Hart, who comes with a history of winning but also a history of gender bias lawsuits and complaints, is operating without sufficient checks and balances. He is operating the department like a fiefdom.
• Eliminating the Lady Vols name for all of the women's teams, save for basketball,may have unnecessarily harmed the university and favored male teams
• Closing meetings of the athletics board denied the public and the media the right to observe and follow conversations that involve and affect the public university's operations
The board will have its chance to bring up these issues at its meeting in Memphis on Feb. 25-26 and it should.
On Sunday The Tennessean recounted the story of a female former University of Tennessee student who accused a male student-athlete of raping her. She chose to report it to university officials, but not to the police, and her complaint was dismissed and her alleged assailant cleared.
The report also showed that only two of 19 sexual assaults reported to the federal government by the University of Tennessee between 2011 and 2013 resulted in completed student disciplinary proceedings.
Hart, who previously worked at Florida State University and the University of Alabama, reports directly to the chancellor and implemented the changes to the program that merged male and female athletics programs.
Two federal lawsuits filed against UT and directed in part at Hart allege gender discrimination, an athletics department disproportionately managed by men, and male employees receiving better jobs with better pay than women in the department.
The Lady Vols controversy brought supporters to Capitol Hill last week to advocate for letting all UT Knoxville women's teams keep the name.
University officials conducted a four-year branding study, announced in November, that places all teams, men and women, under the "Tennessee Volunteers" banner, with one exception: the women's basketball team, which gained fame and victories under former Coach Pat Summitt's leadership.
Opponents decry the university turning its back on the uniqueness of the women's team.
University officials say the merging of men's and women's athletics has resulted in better facilities and treatment for women, something the lawsuits challenge.
Then there's Hart reducing the athletics board from 41 to 18 members and, in 2014, closing the board's proceedings to the public after a 24-year history of openness and adhering to the spirit of the Sunshine Law.
According to the Tennessee Coalition on Open Government, in 2014 the board met three times in secret to discuss important issues such as "NCAA violations, an athletics budget of about $100 million and the academic performance of the school's 500 student-athletes."
The actions create the perception that the university is trying to operate in a secretive fashion and avoid accountability.
That cannot continue. The board needs to get involved - including Haslam - and the priorities and culture need to change.
