NEW YORK — Not many years ago, college coaches concerned themselves mainly with X's and O's. Now, in addition to dealing with drug and alcohol abuse, coaches must worry that a player might be accused of abusing women as well.
Even after recent, highly publicized incidents involving sports figures and sexual assault, few athletic officials at New York City colleges have tackled the issue, however.
"It's something I have never thought of in terms of addressing," said Jack Rohan, men's basketball coach at Columbia University. "Maybe I've been wrong, but it has not been something that has occurred to me."
Rohan's statement reflected the attitude of many area coaches. Columbia University, New York University, Fordham University, City College and Manhattan College sponsor no awareness programs on sexual assault. If sexual assault is mentioned to male athletes, the speaker is often a coach with no specific training in sexual issues.
One exception is St. John's University, where six members of the varsity lacrosse team were charged in 1990 with sodomy and sexual abuse involving an 18-year-old woman. The athletic department began conducting workshops for male athletes.
The NCAA provides athletic departments with videotapes on alcohol and drug abuse, but it has no film on sexual violence. An NCAA spokeswoman said the group had "no plans" to produce one.
Whether sexual attacks on campuses are becoming more common is unclear. Recent evidence suggests that complaints involving athletes are receiving more publicity than ever. At colleges nationwide, including Arkansas, Colorado and Oklahoma, names of varsity athletes are showing up in court dockets.
According to Peggy Reeves Sanday, an anthropology professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of "Fraternity Gang Rape," male athletes are the second most likely campus group, after fraternity men, to commit sexual assault. Members of those groups are responsible for 98% of all reported sexual assaults on campuses.
"Ethically and morally, universities have a responsibility to their women students," Sanday said. Colleges should require awareness programs for their athletes, she added.
In 1991, Andrea Parrot, an assistant professor of human service studies at Cornell University, surveyed 900 students at 25 colleges in New York State. She found that 20.1% of the women students had experienced rape or rape attempts while in college.
