NCAA enacts assault policy

The NCAA has taken a major step toward ensuring every member institution is active in its understanding of sexual violence on college campuses.

The NCAA’s board of governors approved a policy Thursday that requires school presidents, athletic directors and Title IX coordinators to attest annually that their department’s student athletes, coaches and administrators have been educated in sexual-violence prevention.

Each school must prove it is “compliant with institutional policies and processes regarding sexual violence prevention and proper adjudication and resolution of acts of sexual violence.” Schools must also ensure their policies, including the name/contact information of the campus Title IX coordinator, are “readily available in the athletics department and are distributed to student-athletes.”

Schools that don’t comply with the policy will be made known to the public, while schools that do comply will be included in the NCAA’s annual report to the board of governors and published on ncaa.org.

The policy was recommended by the NCAA’s Commission to Combat Sexual Violence — a 26-member group composed of university administrators, athletic directors, administrators and others — that includes rape survivor and human rights activist Brenda Tracy.

Tracy visited the University of Colorado campus last month to discuss the issue of sexual violence on campus as part of CU’s effort to move forward after its handling of domestic violence accusations against former assistant football coach Joe Tumpkin.

“We want to be a leader in this space,” CU athletic director Rick George told The Denver Post. “We learned a lot from (Tracy).”