UT Athletic Director Dave Hart relays trust in program

Protestors line the halls outside of the news conference today.

As Athletic Director Dave Hart stepped to the podium to speak about the culture in the University of Tennessee athletic program.

“I’m proud of the culture that we have here, but I also understand that it is all of our responsibility to continue to address what is a national problem,” said Hart.

The national problem he is speaking of are sexual assaults on college campuses. According to a survey from the Association of American Universities, 23% of female college students said they experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact….

“Within reason that should be our goal to eliminate this issue on campuses.”

Yesterday, former Vol and current UTC Mocs Drae Bowles told his story over being called a traitor by his coach and being assaulted by a teammate. Hart said he is concerned about the number of sexual assault cases involving football players…

Hart went on to say, “Some of the speakers we brought in have talked about that very thing because some experts feel there is maybe a link there to the very sport of football. I’m not saying that is accurate I’m just saying, some speakers have talked candidly to our team about that.”

Hart, as well as all of the Vol coaches, have echoed statements saying that there is no culture problem at U-T.
But Hart did vow that they would look inward for places they can improve