Survey results
Outside the Lines distributed a link to an online survey to Title IX administrators at hundreds of colleges and universities. There were 99 survey respondents. Of those, 22 percent were from Division I schools, 23 percent from Division II, 37 percent from Division III and 17 percent from other types of schools. About 36 percent of the schools were public and 64 percent were private.
Do you feel as though you have enough staff in your office?
Yes: 25 percent
No: 75 percent
Do you feel that your office is able to operate independently in investigations, whether the accused is a regular student, athlete or son/daughter of a big donor?
Yes: 79 percent
No: 11 percent
It depends: 10 percent
At the time you receive a complaint involving an athlete respondent [the person accused of wrongdoing], what notice is given to the athletic department?
None: 34 percent
There is formal protocol to notify someone in athletics: 19 percent
There is no formal protocol, but it's is informal practice to notify someone: 38 percent
Not applicable: 9 percent
How would you describe the involvement of athletics department personnel in Title IX complaint investigations?
No involvement: 19 percent
Supportive or helpful: 59 percent
Intrusive or obstructionist: 4 percent
Other: 17 percent
How do you feel about the Title IX training provided to athletes at your university?
Extremely or very effective: 41 percent
Somewhat effective: 53 percent
Not effective or not effective at all: 6 percent
Do you detect any trends involving cases in which there is an athlete respondent?
Yes: 20 percent
No: 80 percent
Comments from the survey:
"For the past 5 years, in all cases the respondent has been an athlete."
"Sometimes [athletes] have an entitled attitude."
"Hazing type reports, for the more popular teams, rumors of their 'prowess' or ability to never be told no."
"A large portion of our cases on a small campus are involving athletes."
"Dating violence seems more prevalent with athletes."
"We've had an increase [of] Title IX cases involving athletes, as Complainants and Respondents. Primarily I've seen an increase in football respondents, despite a major increase in education with that same sub-group."
"Not any different from the rest of the student body."
"At least half of the complaints that come through our Title IX office involve athletes or coaches."
"Coaches or Athletics Department want to be more involved depending on the level of talent the athlete has for their team or if the coach has a winning background. Some universities place winning first but claim to care. Recent example is Ohio State."
"Respondent's teammates frequently apply subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, pressure on the Complainant and/or the Complainant's friends with the intent to have the Complainant withdraw their complaint. The subtle behavior is often social ostracization."
Professor Vicki Michaelis and journalism students Wilson Alexander, Brittney Butler, John Durham, Jed May, Connor Richter, Kelsey Russo, Mason Wittner at the University of Georgia assisted Outside the Lines in requesting records for this story. ESPN consulted with Analysis & Inference Inc.'s senior statistician and president William Fairley and senior statistician William Huber on the methodology used in the analysis of the Outside the Lines data.
Source: abcnews sports
