UTSA officially codified their zero-tolerance sexual assault policy, named after sexual assault advocate and survivor Brenda Tracy, effective at the beginning of this semester. As a community, not enough is done to prevent sexual assault, and this was an excellent step from the university in order to prevent crimes like this from happening on our campus.
The Tracy Rule puts to paper UTSA’s hardline stance against sexual violence. The rule states:
“A current or prospective student-athlete who has been convicted of, plead guilty or no contest to a felony or misdemeanor involving Serious Misconduct, has been found delinquent in relationship to a juvenile code equivalent, or has been disciplined by the university or athletic department at any time during enrollment at any collegiate institution(excluding temporary disciplinary action during an investigation) due to Serious Misconduct shall not be eligible for athletically related financial aid, practice or competition at The University of Texas at San Antonio.”
Tracy has travelled across the country telling her story to different athletic programs while lobbying to create rules to prevent future cases of sexual assault. Every student-athlete will be required to fill out a form to comply to the Tracy Rule. UTSA became the first university in the nation to implement the Tracy Rule, the most comprehensive serious misconduct rule in the NCAA, and it came not a moment too soon. There are no downsides to this rule. If you have a problem with this rule, take a moment to reevaluate yourself as a human being and go ahead and remove yourself from this campus because all violent sexual crimes need to end.
UTSA’s first priority should be protecting its students, and this rule does just that. In the words of athletic director Lisa Campos, “Sexual assault and misconduct are never, ever acceptable.”
This rule clearly defines misconduct and the consequences that come with it. The athletes that represent UTSA should be held to a higher standard and this rule sets the expectation of what we require from Roadrunner athletes. The #SetTheExpectation campaign has been incredibly beneficial for sexual assault policies across the nation. It’s great to see that UTSA is stepping up and being a leader in these types of areas, making it known that this type of behavior will not be tolerated at UTSA and can only be beneficial to the campus atmosphere. Other schools, *cough cough Baylor cough cough*, need to use this rule as a benchmark to hold their student athletes accountable for past and present actions. It will only be a matter of time until this rule is adopted by every school across the country and UTSA has the honor of being the first to implement this historic rule.
“It has been an honor to work with President Eighmy, Lisa Campos, athletics staff and student-athletes to bring the Tracy Rule to UTSA,” Tracy said. “I hope that other schools will follow their example and make student safety, accountability and transparency a priority, not just through their words but in policy reform, as UTSA has done.
To continue to support Tracy and her fight against sexual assault UTSA has planned another #SetTheExpectation Game for Nov. 16 when UTSA football challenges Southern Miss at the Alamodome.
