Add NCAA president Mark Emmert to the names of those who knew about the assaults that occurred at Michigan State.
According to the Athletic, Emmert was informed of some 37 cases of sexual assault at MSU, including one implicating basketball players Adreian Payne and Keith Appling, in 2010.
Kathy Redmond, the founder of the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, told the Athletic she wrote a letter to Emmert detailing the incidents at MSU and what she was hoping she could do to address the problem.
"Despite recent reports of sexual violence involving two Michigan State University (MSU) basketball players, one of which admitted to raping the victim, neither man was charged criminally or even disciplined by the school," Redmond's letter read. "An earlier report of similar violence involving two other MSU basketball players also went un-redressed. In the past two years alone, 37 reports of sexual assault by MSU athletes have been reported, but not one disciplinary sanction was imposed by school officials against any of the men involved."
Emmert reportedly corresponded with Redmond repeatedly on the issue and was trying to help. However, she found after a while it was clear his hands were tied as the issue was simply bigger than him.
“What I really got from the experience with Mark Emmert was, that governing body governs him,” Redmond said. “He met with me, which was great and I appreciated that. But the governing board has an awful lot of power. … It’s a strange setup. You do kind of get the fox guarding the hen house mentality. You do feel like the NCAA doesn’t like to do investigations because they like their relationships (with university officials and conferences). I think Mark Emmert came in with the right tone but quickly realized, ‘There’s not a lot I can do here.’ ”
