Let me start off by giving you my credentials. I am a college student and RA (resident assistant) at an Iowa University, and I am also an advocate for the victims of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.
I write this article in complete disgust at how the University of Iowa has handled its most recent rape charge against three U of Iowa football players. The victim was also a U of I athlete.
My experience with college athletes is small, but it's enough to know that some athletes at the college level believe that they are above the law for the simple fact that they are college athletes, and they receive perks from the athletic department for that fact alone. They do, in fact, take easier courses and receive more help with classes so that they can remain on the roster and on the field.
I will give athletes at the college level this nod: Their commitment to their sport is beyond anything I've seen. I know this because for a whole school year I was assigned as the RA of a primarily all-athlete floor.
The University of Iowa mishandled everything because they kept this heinous crime within the university, with the aim to protect it and the three men who put on the black and gold helmet on Saturday afternoons. This was by far, from an advocate's point of view, the greatest mistake.
In the world of DV and SA, blame is never placed on the victim. Yet by keeping the investigation in-house and by not taking protective measures to protect the victim, they placed the victim in the same dorm, same floor, and only three doors away from her perpetrator.
In my line of work as an Advocate, I work with victims and lay out their options before them, and also support them in the decisions that they make. In the incident at the U of Iowa, the father was the advocate. ONLY A TRAINED ADVOCATE CAN ADVOCATE, and all victims are entitled to an advocate—but the U of Iowa did not make that clear to the victim.
Dad cannot be an advocate because he has a conflict of interest, and his responsibility is as a dad first. In addition, he is not educated in the field and cannot know how to advocate.
I also want to take offense to the words of a local radio host who blamed the victim for being drunk, wearing seductive clothing, and being with these men at 2:30 in the morning. The victim is never to blame—EVER. It is not illegal to be drunk, nor to be with who she was with at 2:30 in the morning.
However, the act of the alleged rape was against the law—yet this radio talk show host failed to understand that point. NO means NO in every aspect of the very simple two-letter word.
Another question being raised by people in the state of Iowa is, how drunk do you have to be before you can't give consent? First, why the hell does that matter, and second, why risk it? The penalty for rape in any degree is so huge, why risk it?
Now I want to switch gears and approach this from a normal college student's standpoint.
As I sit, I just signed a loan agreement for an ungodly amount of money for just one year of school. I am sick and tired of seeing college athletes break the law, yet have the backing of the athletics department. More times than not, they are under scholarship, using my tax dollars to break the law.
I have met Iowa Head Football Coach Kirk Ferentz, and he seemed like a nice guy, but he has continued to recruit players who have no respect for the law. Just this past week, a new recruit, 19 years old and just about ready to report to camp, was arrested when he ran from the cops after he was caught drinking. (I know the reality of underage drinking.)
The bottom line is, winning has become everything, to the point that we have lost sight of what our little league coaches told us growing up: "Let's go out and win, but let's have fun doing it."
Put me on record as saying I would rather have a losing record every year than watch a large percentage of the team that I grew up loving, and most people in the state would have loved or would love to play for, get kicked off and arrested for crimes so stupid and so wrong as rape.
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2 months ago
Absolutely brilliant article.
from 2 months ago
Thank you its an issue that has just grabed the state of Iowa, and after the release of the letter written by the victims mother it is slowly becoming clear that the victim and her parents were kept in the dark and the U of I and the atletic department coverd it up after 2 footballplayers were orderd to move in the room that the alleged rape happened contaminating any evidence.
2 months ago
iowa football has fallen on hard times, on the field but more importantly in the courtroom. it really is pathetic. and now that the university has two sexual assault charges (pierre pierce on the basketball team) in the last couple years, the athletic department has to look at who is coming into the university. i don't think college athletes think they're above the law because they're college athletes. i think the problem starts as early as junior high now. if you're an athlete in america now you are a demi-god. it's sad, but that's the state of our nation. good article, i just wish it didn't need to be written
2 months ago
i feel sorry for all victims but what has happened to innocent until proven guilty it is alleged assult if they did it they should be punished but if not this will turn into a similar event to the duke lacrosse team dont they have the right to a trail by a juror of their peers or is it because they are athletes they are guilty till proven innocent but in the case of pierre pierce he did do the crime and was sent to jail
from 2 months ago
Sexual Assault victims have absolutely NO benefit to "crying" rape. Would anyone like to describe in great detail a sexual experience? In front of their mother....father...a partner? Now think, tell a sexual experience that was not of your consent...over and over to strangers, all who have no reason to believe you. A victim tells this to individuals who they know will blame them, because the first person to blame a victim is the victim themselves. Yes the first and last person to believe they are to blame for another's CHOICE to harm another is the victim. Our society has so ingrained in people that what you wear, what you may have or haven't drank has anything to do with being assaulted. Statistics tell us that the #1 place for sexual assault is the victims home. 2nd most likely place....the perpetrators home. The #1 weapon in sexual assault is alcohol. Fact perpetrators will assault when it is safest for them. Perps thrive on opportunity. Yes a person is innocent until proven guilty.....Let us also remember a victim should never be on trial.
from 2 months ago
*CORRECTION TO MY RESPONSE*
"Yes the first and last person to believe they are not to blame for another's CHOICE to harm another is the victim. "
sorry got typing to fast
2 months ago
Not just assaults but crime in general, although that's certainly a good place to start. Good read, spot on.
2 months ago
Court,
some of your comments about athletes sound a little bit 'broad brushed'...
I don't know much about this case and hope any arrogant and corrupt administrators
are ousted,, and those who hired them,
BUT,
high school students who participate in sports are the ones who stay OUT of trouble as compared
to the rest of the student population ...
please don't use broad brushed comments against all student athletes,,
that's not accurate or fair.
Another point,,, many of the athletes have to put in so many xtra hours in practices and training
that they are hard-pressed to have enough TIME to get their school work done.
They are trying to complete the homework and studying with FAR FEWER HOURS than the normal students have.... yet are never given credit for it.
from 2 months ago
this is why i used words like "some athletes" some of my friends are college athletes and I was an athlete back in high school, and I did commend them for their commitment to their sport. however we for get that these athletes are not athletes but they are student athletes and STUDENT comes first. Thats how i approached my sports career, I was never on an all state team for my performance but for the grades while playing football and to date I hold it as one of my greatest accomplishments.
2 months ago
Court,
STUDENT comes FIRST for YOU.
Most of the student-athletes can take their college courses anyplace, anytime and
pass them and get a degree with EASE...
the big CHALLENGE for many of the college student athletes is first becoming one in 10,000...100,000
becoming so great at their sport that they are good enough to get a scholarship offer,,
then, AT college,, working their butt off every day to IMPROVE... many hoping to turn professional
in their sport. The time and effort they put into it is so great, incredible.
This is like comparing lifting 5 pounds in the air to lifting 1,000 pounds.
Just in HIGH SCHOOL,, I got home from football practice around 8:30 pm,, dead tired,,
to THEN begin my homework.
If the college student athletes aren't putting in most of their time into their sport,, they are sent home and can be the 'student' first at their local college.
You sound a little bit clueless about the time and effort truly needed to compete at the major college sports level... you should spend a week with a football player in September who is competing for a starting job and see if you can keep up with his schedule.
from 2 months ago
I have spent time with college student athletes, as I mentioned I lived among them for a year. They do work hard for in terms of their sport. I will never doubt that...but I know for a fact that some student athletes when they do have time on their hands they spend it doing things that could be seen as detrimental to the program in which they play, my beef is not with all college athletes just the ones who make poor decisions. I am informed, my point is that we as a society have only rewarded wining, and in life there is so much more than just wining. so please, I am informed as to what a college athlete goes through, as I listed my credentials in the article. but they bottom line athletics is a choice and choices come with sacrifice and natural consequences as does everything else.
2 months ago
amazingly well written
2 months ago
Excellent article, and very important. I agree, the issue here is not "innocent until proven guilty." Of course, that is a principle aspect of our society that applies to this case. However, what's crucial here (and the author points out) is that the victim is being blamed. That is outlandish.
I was a college athlete at a division I university, competed at the national championships, and won a bunch of conference titles. I know that college athletes can be stereotyped, and it can be unfair. At the same time, we know that in predominantly male groups (like football teams) a greater percentage of the individuals tend to engage in misogynstic behaviors.
Couple that the the sense of privilege too many athletes begin acquiring, and it's just not a good combination. Great article Court! Keep up the good work.
from 2 months ago
Awesome, couldnt have said it better, thank you!
2 months ago
I enjoyed your article very much and agree with your point of view. I wish I could tell you about how the athletes on a championship team in Illinois were treated and all their sins (which were convieniently overlooked). That was mid 1980's, and this is no new problem.
2 months ago
I understand your credentials and how that informs you on this topic, but I also believe it misleads you.
As an RA, you deal with the most immature of college athletes. These are the incoming freshmen, and most often recruited incoming freshmen in team sports. Among college athletes, they have the most perks and the least incentive to reign in their personal behavior before college as well as during college. Take the typical binge drinking irresponsibility of new college students turned loose from their parents and multiple that and you have the environment for these athletes. This is not the typical incoming athlete, and this is certainly not the typical athlete overall. If you discuss all of college athletes, this is group (scholarship, recruited, incoming freshman on a team sport with a housing perk) makes up less than 1% of college athletes. Yet, as an RA of an athlete floor, this is 50-80% of the athletes that you will encounter.
from 2 months ago
Freshman or not is not the point in discussion, its the overall conduct of the athletes at Iowa, it ranges from the incoming freshman to the upper classmen. My point is that Athletes need to remember that they are under a microscope and that they represent something bigger IE: team and University. However none of this exuses the crime of rape.
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