KSHB-TV - Senator Claire McCaskill calls for change when handling athletes suspected of crimes

News Article

By Brian Abel

In the wake of a damning national ESPN report on 10 universities ' handling of athlete criminal cases, Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill is telling collegiate athletic directors: It's time to stop protecting athletes.

McCaskill, a former sex crimes prosecutor, used the keynote address at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Convention to call for a change in culture within athletic programs.

"Winning programs that don't have values or character are losing programs," said McCaskill.

McCaskill has drafted a bill aimed at putting preferential treatment for athletes accused of sexual assaults on the sideline.

"When the first call from the police department is to the coach… That's not the way this is supposed to work."

The Campus Accountability & Safety Act , which McCaskill says has bipartisan support, would set a standard of student discipline, regardless of athletic affiliation.

"To make sure that there is due process in this system, to make sure that victims have a place they can go on campus for confidential support or information and a method that we can judge universities on how well they are doing their job in terms of campus safety," said McCaskill.

McCaskill references her alma-mater, Mizzou, as an example of the tide turning, citing their response to allegations of a former star wide receiver for the university, Dorial Green-Beckham, assaulting a woman. The school kicked him off the team.

"Not because he was prosecuted for a crime, not because he was convicted for a crime, but because the university took a look at the evidence around that crime and determined that he didn't belong in their program anymore," McCaskill said. "In the old days, they would've used the excuse that he hasn't been prosecuted as a reason to put him back on the field the next week."

Source