When picking a university, many people have specific qualities they are looking for in a school, such as good athletics, strong faith based, good academics, etc. For Elizabeth Doe, (the name she is using to keep her identity anonymous) she was excited about going to Baylor because of the prominent Christian values that were intertwined in the environment of the school. Little did she know that the rape prone culture that had arose among Baylor football after the hiring of Coach Art Briles would lead to her getting brutally gang raped by two Baylor football players (Elizabeth 1). It was reported that the Baylor athletic department handled allegations and investigations of sexual assault when it involved the football players, which can result in the mishandling of the investigation and essentially no punishment for the athlete that committed the crime (Wheeling). Imagine going to a school, excited about the new experiences and everything they have to offer, only to be rudely awakened by the fact that the athletic department and coaches are protecting the athletes, so that they are untouchable while continuing to promote a rape prone culture. Baylor is just one example of how big of an issue sexual assault has become and how schools are mishandling the investigations, leading to the belief that this culture can continue. Sexual assault on campuses is more prominent in athletic communities, and something must be done in order to prevent this type of culture from increasing.

In the recent years, the news has been filled with several schools and athletes being involved in sexual assault scandals. As seen from the revolving news stories that involve athletes and sexual assault, these scandals show the prevalence and growing issue that is becoming more common on college campuses. Sexual assault is defined as any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient (“Sexual”). While many of these stories are covered by the media, there seems to be a trend of lenient punishments or no punishments at all due to the name of the school and/or athlete. Some universities are not properly handling sexual assault cases when it comes to athletes, which leads to the belief that there will be no consequences or that what they are doing isn’t wrong. 

Sexual assault has become a recent and increasing issue among athletics. This increasing number may be due to some of the qualities that are associated with sports. Athletes are often seen as the “big men on campus” and can sometimes be treated like royalty depending on the sport they play. With this type of attention and special treatment, there becomes a “perceived lack of consequences for star athletes,” which can lead to an increase in aggressive sexual behavior because they assume that anyone would be lucky to be with them, and they know there will not be consequences because of the talent they have on the field (Wheeling). Through a coupe surveys, it was found that “one in six and one in three men would be to ‘use force’ to obtain sex from women as long as there were no consequences for their actions” (Wheeling). These surveys point to the fact that athletes, who know they won’t be punished for their actions because they are being protected by the athletic department and university, would be more willing to commit a crime, such as sexual assault. 

Not only can the belief that there are no consequences lead to a rape prone culture, but peer encouragement, violence as a part of sports, and male privilege are also factors that promote a disturbing environment. Peer support can come in the form of locker room talk and can lead to the belief and encouragement of negative attitudes and behaviors towards women. Without the leadership of coaches or other teammates setting the standard of how to treat others, especially with women, and allowing negative talk about women go on, can lead to new and incoming players adopting those beliefs and continuing a rape prone culture. A study also found that “athletes were…more likely to endorse negative attitudes towards women,” which could lead to the harmful and dangerous behavior that supports sexual assault (Cara). This study also found that “54 percent of the student-athletes admitted to committing at least one ‘sexually coercive’ act in their lifetimes” (Cara). While this study included all college athletes, including those who participate in recreational activities, it is still a shocking percent of people who have committed a coercive act, and even these recreational sports can include the qualities that lead to a rape prone culture around college campuses. By allowing some of these athletes who have committed a sexual assault to remain on the team without any consequences, they “are more likely to bring to the team the myths and ideology that supports their behavior” (Crosset 82). These athletes will bring and voice their beliefs to their teammates, making it seem as if sexual assault is the “cool” thing to do and make it seem like it is okay for them to do. 

Sports, such as football, hockey, and wrestling, have a violent nature to them that can be leading to the off the field violence of sexual assault. A study done by Laura Finely, who is a sociologist at Barry University, found that “players in ‘power and performance sports’…commit violent crimes more often than their peers in sports like swimming or tennis” (Wheeling). Since violence is such a crucial and core part of some of the male sports, it can lead to athletes taking some of that on field violence to other facets of their lives and making violence “a norm, rather than confined to a game” (Crosset 83). With violence becoming a normal practice in everyday life, it will continue to the lead to the violent behavior seen in the recent sexual assault cases. 

Getting recruits and good players to choose a school can be difficult with all of the competition from other programs, and it becomes a big part of a coach’s and athletic department’s job. However, that does not mean using women or men’s privilege to them as a way to get players. It has been seen that the “practice of using women to woo top recruits has not stopped and is still…encouraged by coaches” (Crosset 84). For example, at Baylor, their coaches implemented the “‘Show em a good time’ policy,” where they would pay for escorts, drugs, etc. in order to impress the recruits (Elizabeth 4). Not only did they encourage their players to implement this policy, but the coaches would also promote sex and women to their recruits. The assistant coach for Baylor, Kendall Briles, was quoted saying to a recruit, “‘Do you like white women? Because we have a lot of them at Baylor and they love football players’” (Elizabeth 4). This example of how coaches are using the idea that men, especially athletes, get their pick at any women promotes the rape prone culture on college campuses. With the coaches’ support of these behaviors, it gives their players and recruits the idea that it is okay to treat women in such a disrespectful manner, which has led to a sickening amount of sexual assault cases involving athletes. Although the programs at other colleges are not as corrupt as Baylor, these factors are still prevalent in sports and can lead to a rape prone culture, making sexual assault more prominent in athlete-based environments. 

Not only can those factors lead to the prominence of sexual assault in athletics, but the way the investigations and cases are handled by staff, coaches, and even the police departments can help promote this negative culture. A survey done by Senator McCaskill showed that “one in five colleges and universities ceded control of athlete sexual assault cases to athletic departments” (Kingkade). This would be a conflict of interest because athletic departments, coaches, and even the university as a whole want to continue to have winning programs and could possibly do anything in order to keep it that way, such as interfering with sexual assault investigations to keep the reputation of the school strong and keep the athlete from getting in trouble in order to ensure they keep playing. It can also be difficult for victims to get support and have people believe their allegations “when their attacker is an athlete and the school’s athletic department is handling the investigation” (ABC 0:00-0:12). For example, Delaney Robinson was raped by a University of North Carolina football player, and the school had “taken no action in the more than six months that have elapsed since she reported her accusations” (Ridpath). She also claimed that the officer investigating her allegations told the perpetrator “to ‘not sweat the rape allegations,’” while she was drilled with questions that insinuated it was her fault if she got raped (Ridpath). This case shows how universities can stall in their investigations in order to help protect the athlete from punishments to either hope the women drop their cases or to just allow the athlete to continue to playing without having to punish them during the season.

Mishandling of cases is also seen in the Florida State and Baylor allegations as well. In the Florida State case, Erica Kinsman claimed that the university “‘refus[ed] to investigate and…cover[ed] up her allegations of sexual assault’” regarding former quarterback Jameis Winston (Wagner). Erica Kinsman went to the hospital and reported the rape the night of the incident, but “the investigation stalled for months” until the attorney stated that no charges were being filed due to lack of evidence (Wagner). While these investigations may not seem overtly mishandled, there seems to be a trend regarding the amount of time it takes an investigation to take place when it involves an athlete. In the Baylor case, Elizabeth Doe was gang raped and filed a report, only to be met with a “cursory investigation,” where no one “interviewed either of the accused assailants” (Tracy). Through the investigation of Baylor with other sexual assault cases, it was found that “athletic department officials had interfered with investigations of players suspected of rape,” as well as finding out that there were at least five allegations of rape reported to the athletic department, where there was no action taken (Tracy). As seen through these three specific cases, the mishandling of cases regarding athletes is a reoccurring issue and is giving these athletes the belief that there will be no consequences for their actions because of their status, which is promoting the rape prone culture that has surrounded athletic environments. 

Admittedly, the NCAA tried to address the issue of the amount of sexual assaults that were happening on college campuses and in athletics by passing a policy that would “not allow athletic departments to control investigations of sexual assault involving student athletes” (Kingkade). This policy, which was passed on August 8, 2014, was put in place in hopes to avoid the “conflict of interest that was allowed to exist” in the past and to ensure that the sexual assault cases were being properly handled rather than swept under the rug by the administration or coaches (Kingkade). The NCAA passed this policy to try and stop the amount of mishandled or questionable cases that have been in the media regarding athletic departments and their athletes. However, while this policy does have good intentions and can possibly help in avoiding mishandled cases, it will not stop the university or local police departments from attempting to sweep the allegations under the rug in order to save the reputation of the school and to ensure that these star athletes can continue to play and win for their program. 

In order to put an end to the increasing number of sexual assaults seen among the athletic community, there needs to be something put in place to prevent these big scandals from happening at such an alarming rate. The NCAA tried to demonstrate the push to change the culture on college campuses by preventing athletic departments from controlling the investigations, so that they can lessen the amount of cases being mishandled and actually enforce punishments for these athletes (Kingkade). There are also a few other ways schools can try to lessen the amount of sexual assaults on campuses, as well as dismantling the rape prone culture that has been formed. Universities should “provide prevention education programs specifically designed for athletes” that educates them on sexual assault and how prominent rape prone cultures are on college campuses and how to combat that type of culture from representing that program or university (Crosset 88). Education of what constitutes as rape also needs to be included in these prevention programs because in many cases, the perpetrator uses alcohol or the fact that the victim said nothing as a way to get around it being rape (Cara). However, being under the influence and the fact that the person doesn’t specifically say “no” does not give the other party consent. Another way to decrease sexual assaults in athletics that was suggested was to ban universities from recruiting athletes “who have been convicted of a sexually violent or other physically violent act” (Ridpath). By doing this, it would assist in limiting players that have been involved in a sexually violent act from influencing and convincing other teammates that their beliefs and behaviors are okay. For instance, in the settlement with Erica Kinsman and Florida State, along with the money, the university had to agree to “five years of sexual assault awareness programs and greater transparency” (Wagner). Florida State is being required to implement these programs to try to prevent the number of sexual assaults that are happening around the country. While sexual assault has become a major problem on college campuses, specifically among the athletic community, there are steps that can be put in place to try and lessen the occurrence of sexual assault cases throughout the U.S. 

For women, like Elizabeth Doe and Delaney Robinson, their lives are forever changed, and there is a part of them that is taken and can never be returned. As fellow students, parents, teachers, and coaches, there is a responsibility to protect everyone on campus from the effect that sexual assault can have on a person and a society. College campuses are supposed to be a safe environment for people to grow in their relationships, their knowledge, and themselves, and it is important to ensure that is possible for all students. By acknowledging the increasing problem of sexual assaults and how a rape prone culture is likely to be cultivated, especially in athletics, it provides schools with a way to implement new policies and programs to guarantee that they are doing whatever they can to help put an end to the problem. While sexual assault is currently more prominent in athletic communities, universities and coaches can drastically impact the beliefs and behaviors of its athletes by not putting up with any form of sexual violence in the future, as well as providing prevention and education programs for athletes to stop sexual assault from happening or being accepted among the university and program. Universities need to make a real effort to change the rape prone culture that exists on its campuses today and provide a safe environment for students who are excited for all that this new experience can bring for them, just like Elizabeth Doe was when she decided to attend Baylor. 
