The news coming out of Tennessee's athletics program is "troubling," as it involves a "lack of accountability, secrecy, alleged gender bias, controversy over rebranding and inconsistencies in how allegations against male students involving sexual assaults are handled," according to David Plazas of the Nashville TENNESSEAN. UT's BOT needs to "make sure the university's priorities are in the right place; they certainly don't seem to be now," and they "ought to find answers" to a number of questions. Those include whether AD Dave Hart, who comes with a "history of winning but also a history of gender bias lawsuits and complaints, is operating without sufficient checks and balances." He is "operating the department like a fiefdom." The BOT will "have its chance to bring up these issues at its meeting in Memphis on Feb. 25-26 and it should." The actions "create the perception that the university is trying to operate in a secretive fashion and avoid accountability" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 2/17).
OPPOSITION TO CHANGE: In Nashville, Nate Rau noted opposition to UT's brand change for women's athletics "has been impassioned." It is the "latest in a litany of events casting a shadow on Tennessee's women's athletics, a program once showcased as a national model with the revered women's basketball team as the crown jewel." In two federal lawsuits, former athletics employees alleged "gender discrimination against veteran female employees by top university officials," including Hart. They also alleged that "reorganization, combining men's and women's athletics, created a new department managed disproportionately by men." Finally, they alleged that in the reorganization, "less-experienced, less-qualified men got better jobs with better pay than women in the department." Critics are "questioning whether the university made a wise decision to largely drop the Lady Vols name, and whether it was a mistake to consolidate the athletics programs." They also "question whether Hart, who was hired after the university decided to combine the two departments, was the right man for the delicate job." UT has "already settled the discrimination lawsuit" filed by former UT Media Dir Debby Jennings. Rau noted opponents are hoping the BOT "weighs in on the name change, though a spokeswoman for the board said the issue will not be on the agenda for the next meeting Feb. 25-26" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 2/16).
