The University of Tennessee athletics department pressured disciplinary officials at the university to impose lighter punishments on athletes, according to a former vice chancellor.
Tennessee athletics accused of influencing student discipline to help athletes
Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart is accused of shouting at a disciplinary officer for the punishment given to a football player.
Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
In documents obtained by The Tennesseean, former vice chancellor Tim Rogers alleges that members of the athletic department -- including athletic director Dave Hart -- put the school in peril by pushing for lighter punishments.
A pair of sexual assault cases raised against members of the football and men’s basketball teams are cited by The Tennesseean as examples of lesser punishments dealt to student-athletes. Via Rogers:
It is patently apparent that Athletics, enabled by way of the Chancellor’s directives and interference:
a. Wields undue influence and diminishes or eliminates the independence of thought and action necessary for unbiased review within individual departments
b. Places our institutional integrity at peril
c. Places our students in peril
The allegations come at a time when the Tennessee football program has been under fire for its handling of sexual misconduct allegations. According to The Tennesseean, at least five players on the team’s roster for the 2014 season have been accused of sexual assault.
The report also mentions former running back Marlin Lane, who played his final season for the Volunteers in 2014, as a player who may have received preferential treatment due to his status as a football player. Lane was accused of sexual assault, but the university did not pursue disciplinary charges after the alleged victim didn't cooperate with investigators.
Further, basketball player Yemi Makanjuola was granted permission to transfer to UNC-Wilmington shortly after he was accused of sexual assault and managed to avoid discipline after UT officials found him to have violated student conduct standards.
Hart, who took over as athletic director in 2011, is accused of shouting at Jenny Wright, an official in charge of determining discipline at the university.
“During our discussion, Mr. Hart stood in front of me, leaned his face toward mine, raised his voice as he spoke and became visibly angry,” Wright told The Tennessean. The confrontation occurred in 2012 in a hallway before a female athletics luncheon. “Vice Chancellor Rogers stood next to us throughout the conversation, and dozens of my colleagues walked past us in the corridor.”
According to Wright, the outburst happened due to the punishment she had given a football player. Hart called the accusation of a shouting match “patently and unequivocally false.”
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