Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance Cope siminsvaon ulin Te MIDDLE Murfeesbor, TN 37132 TENNESSEE 0: 615-898-2185 + f: 615-904-0041 wwwwemisu.edufiec STATE UNIVERSITY. Policy: 27 Misconduct, Discrimination and Harassment Based on Sex (Investigation Report) Complainant: IES Undergraduate Student Volleyball Player Undergraduate Student Volleyball Player JUndergraduate Student Volleyball Player Respondent: Mr. Charles Crawford, Head Women’s Volleyball Coach Investigator: Marian V. Wilson, PhD, Assistant to the President for Institutional Equity And Title IX Coordinator Date: March 5, 2019 Basis for Complaint ‘On November 19, 2018, the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance received allegations of harassment, abuse and retaliation reported by a parent of an MTSU Women’s Volleyball player to MTSU President, Dr. Sidney McPhee. Soon after the initial report, several other parents of volleyball players reported the same or similar allegations. I then met with the daughters of these parents, Ii who indicated their agreement with the allegations made by their parents. The reported allegations are that Mr. Charles Crawford, Head Coach of the MTSU Women’s Volleyball team, “mentally and border line physically abused” volleyball players. Investigation For this investigation, | interviewed the three complainants, all other MTSU Volleyball players, the Respondent, two Assistant Coaches, the Athletic Trainer, the Team Manager and the Strength and Conditioning Coach, former. | also met with the Director of Athletics, the Senior Associate Athletic Director and the Associate Director of Athletics/Compliance. Finally, | communicated with seven player's parents (three player’s parents in person, two by telephone and two others who submitted ‘written statements.) During the course of the investigation, multiple allegations concerning Coach Crawford’s treatment of the players were made and many comments were consistent among the players and parents. The allegations included, but were not limited to, the following * Coach Crawford yelled and screamed at the players excessively and cursed at them; * Coach Crawford humiliated the players in public, One example occurred following their loss at their home tournament after which he took away their locker room; other teams saw them removing their gear from the locker room. He also made them wear their jerseys inside out; * After losing a match at Wofford College, he punished them by making them run sprints and do bear crawls on the Wofford football field. Some of the players had injuries and struggled to* Coach Crawford talked to players about the other players" private lives; * Coach Crawford threatened players’ scholarships or threatened to cut them from the team; © Coach Crawford displayed anger in front of the team to include throwing items and kicking doors The players indicated that they were fearful of Coach Crawford and concemed about him retaliating against them. They stated that he created an abusive and hostile environment. ‘The Respondent did not deny many of the factual allegations and stated that he has been frustrated trying to effectively motivate the team, However, he denied abusing or retaliating against the players. He denied threatening to cut players or take away their scholarships. Conelusions After a careful review of the information presented, it appears that the conduct by Coach Crawford is serious and objectively offensive, and reasonably made his players afraid. However, none of the concerning behaviors reported by the complainants and others interviewed for this investigation demonstrated by Coach Crawford are a violation of MTSU Policy 27: Misconduct, Discrimination and Harassment Based on Sex, Sexual Discrimination is treating individuals less favorably because of their sex (including pregnancy or sexual orientation/gender identity/expression) or having a policy or practice that ‘has a disproportionately adverse impact on protected class members. Sexual Harassment... is defined to include unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, including sexual assault, where a tangible employment or educational action is conditioned upon submission to or rejection of unwelcome sexual advances, or where conduct is so severe, pervasive, or objectively offensive that the individual is effectively denied equal access to the University’s resources and opportunities. Sexual harassment, including sexual assault, can involve persons of the same or opposite sex. Harassment does not have to include intent to harm, be directed at a specific person or group of people, or involve repeated incidents, Sex-based harassment includes sexual harassment, which is further defined below, and non-sexual harassment based on stereotypical notions of what is female(feminine versus male/masculine or a failure to conform to those gender Stereotypes Coach Crawford's conduct was “not less favorable” to his players because of their sex. It was also not related to “unwelcome advances”, or based on stereotypical notions of female versus masculine stereotypes. Coach Crawford's conduct is serious and objectively offensive because he “took his will to win out on his players.” Even though the findings stated above have been determined not to violate Policy 27, given the seriousness of these behaviors and other behaviors reported for this investigation from an MTSU Head Coach against his team, this matter will be referred to University administration for review and follow- up,Asai ica President’s Determination 1 concur with the findings and conclusion and request that the matter be forwarded to the Director of Athletics for review and follow-up. J do not concur with the findings and conclusion and direct as follows: Date Is y AssistAnt Vice President Human Resources