NCAA wants to establish guidelines to protect minors on campus
INDIANAPOLIS – Mark Emmert is willing to help colleges and universities do a better job protecting minors on campus.
In the wake of two disturbing child sex-abuse allegations in the past month, the NCAA president said Monday he has contacted U.S. Education Secretary Arnie Duncan so he can advise school leaders about the best practices in dealing with ball boys, ball girls and students at summer camps.
“We’re looking into that right now,” Emmert told the AP. “Because we’ve never been involved with this kind of thing before, we’re trying to determine what is the best thing to do.”
Emmert did not provide specific details on what those guidelines may include, how extensive they could be or when they might be completed.
No, Emmert does not intend to add the guidelines to the massive 400-plus page rulebook, but he wants to prevent future improprieties from occurring and wants to find out if there is a pervasive culture within athletic departments that could lead to cover-ups of criminal conduct.
“When you have a veil of secrecy, you have the potential for abusive behavior whether it’s in the Catholic church, a school or whatever, and that applies to all of us, not just the NCAA,” Emmert told reporters.
Penn State has already said it is considering a change to its school policy, too.
“We are looking at issues such as you mentioned,” school president Rod Erickson said. “For example, the sports camps, and who was allowed to participate in the supervisory or oversight kind of role. But we’re also relying on the special investigations task force, which is looking at every aspect of policy and practice. I’ve already said as part of my five promises that will implement the recommendations that come out of that investigation.”
Emmert’s comments came in the final month of a scandal-tinged year that has damaged the images of athletic programs from Boise State and Tennessee to Miami and Ohio State.
But the recent allegations at Penn State and Syracuse are the most shocking.
After a grand jury report accused former Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky of abusing eight boys over a 15-year period, university trustees fired coach Joe Paterno and school president Graham Spanier. Two other former Penn State officials are charged with failing to report complaints of abuse and with lying to a grand jury. They’ve pleaded not guilty.
Critics contended that Paterno, Spanier and other school officials should have done more to stop Sandusky, who is awaiting a preliminary hearing on 40 criminal counts.
Last week, after three men accused Bernie Fine of molesting them, Syracuse fired the longtime assistant basketball coach. Federal authorities are investigating, but no charges have been filed.