Sexual harassment in athletics breaks the trust.

Colleges and universities have an obligation to act when they know, knew or should have known that sexual harassment has occurred," said Dr. Paula Rudolph, Title IX and sexual harassment officer at the University of California-Santa Barbara. "Schools have to act affirmatively to respond to complaints, but at the same time, protect the privacy of the complainant."

At the 2003 NCAA Title IX Seminar held in San Diego in April, Rudolph described an incident where a male professor seduced and then rejected a female student. When she had trouble eating, sleeping and studying, her parents sued the school and won, putting the school on notice.

"Whenever anybody is believed to be in a position to do something about sexual harassment, they [now] will do something about it," she said.

An educational perspective

In an academic classroom, a student can be moved to another section, away from a lecherous TA. Even grad students can recruit a faculty member from another campus to sit on their thesis or dissertation committees.

But not in athletics. "You can't do this with athletes on a team," said Rudolph. "My toughest cases are these."

When she came to UC-Santa Barbara in 1992, Rudolph was asked if there would be enough work to keep her busy. The first year alone, the year following the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings, she handled 65 complaints. Since then she has resolved more than 650 complaints of sexual harassment at the school.