[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1834-E1836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SPORTS LEADERS SPEAK OUT AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE--SUPPORT GROWS FOR 
               NATIONAL SUMMIT ON SPORTS AND NON-VIOLENCE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BERNARD SANDERS

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                      Saturday, September 28, 1996

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, yesterday Congresswoman Connie Morella and 
I announced a major breakthrough in the campaign that we initiated to 
get big-name sports stars and coaches to speak out in the national 
media against domestic violence in America.
  More specifically, last January Representative Morella and I first 
wrote directly to the commissioners and other top officials of our 
Nation's major professional and amateur sports leagues. We urged them 
in the strongest terms possible to join with us and commit to work 
together to fashion a multi-faceted strategy to prevent domestic 
violence, including counseling, strong disciplinary action when 
warranted, and a high-profile public education and advertising campaign 
against domestic violence. (A copy of our original letter is reproduced 
below.)
  Next we held extensive discussions with leaders of the sports 
industry to determine how best to enlist the voices of star athletes, 
as role models of profound national influence, in speaking out against 
domestic violence.
  Then in July we introduced our legislation (House Concurrent 
Resolution 199) calling for

[[Page E1835]]

national summit of sports, political, and community leaders to promote 
nonviolence through sports, starting with a sustained nationwide 
campaign against domestic violence and sexual assault.
  We are making progress because more and more Americans are willing to 
stand up and speak out against domestic violence as a crime. For 
example, starting next week an on-going series of public service 
advertisements, featuring football stars from the professional and 
collegiate ranks, will begin broadcast on television stations across 
the country. On this coming Monday--September 30, 1996--there will be 
an antidomestic violence public service announcement broadcast in prime 
time during the ``ABC Monday Night Football'' nationally-televised game 
between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles. I want to 
applaud the officials of the National Football League and stars like 
Steve Atwater of the Denver Broncos who have made possible this series 
of public service announcements to help us in our efforts to prevent 
domestic violence.
  At the same time, I am very pleased to announce that starting next 
month viewers of televised college football games will see for the 
first time many of our Nation's college football stars speaking out 
against domestic violence.

  I especially want to salute the outstanding players coaches, and 
officials of the College Football Association [CFA] for filming these 
ads as well a the generous sponsors of the Liz Claiborne Foundation for 
financing this trail-blazing antidomestic violence campaign as well as 
the scholars at the Northeastern University's Center for the Study of 
Sport in Society for helping craft the message. (The text of one of 
these unprecedented television spots to be broadcast is reproduced 
below as well.) These ads will provide a powerful start in October to a 
wide range of activities planned for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
  These televised public service advertisements by major athletic 
associations are a very positive first step in our efforts to recruit 
sports leaders to lend their voices to the growing campaign to stop 
domestic violence. I can't think of a better way to deter physical 
abuse against women and children than to have our Nation's football 
heroes take to the airwaves to spread a blunt message all across 
America. Tough guys mix it up on the field, but they won't beat up on 
their wives, girlfriends and kids.
  At the same time, we will press ahead with our plans to convene 
during the next year the first-ever national summit on sports and non-
violence. Already scores of health, athletic and antiviolence groups 
have endorsed our legislation and joined the call for defining a 
prominent role for our Nation's sports industry and athletic heroes to 
help lead the campaign against domestic violence.
                                    U.S. House of Representatives,
                                 Washington, DC, January 24, 1996.
     Mr. Paul Tagliabue,
     Commissioner, National Football League,
     New York, NY
       Dear Commissioner Tagliabue. We are in receipt of the 
     January 17th letter from Mr. Harold R. Henderson, Executive 
     Vice President for Labor Relations and Chairman of the 
     National Football League (NFL) Management Council.
       First, we want to salute the outstanding work of the NFL 
     across many decades in supporting so many charities and 
     community-building activities throughout our nation. In 
     addition, the players and coaches of the NFL, as role models 
     of profound national influence, have already helped for many 
     years to positively shape the lives of countless young 
     Americans.
       It is the NFL's record of civic responsibility to which we 
     want to appeal.
       Specifically, we are writing to ask in the strongest terms 
     that the NFL join with us and commit to work together to 
     fashion a multi-faceted strategy to deter domestic violence, 
     including counseling, strong disciplinary action when 
     warranted, and a high-profile public education and 
     advertising campaign against domestic violence.
       It is commendable that the NFL has taken decisive action 
     and instituted disciplinary policies on both drug and alcohol 
     abuse as well as unabolic steroid and related substance 
     abuse. But we believe the time has come for the NFL to step 
     forward, as you are accustomed to do, and assume a leading 
     role in deterring domestic violence among current and future 
     NFL personnel in particular and the general public as well.
       A startling investigation by The Washington Post revealed 
     that between the January 1, 1989 incident that led to O.J. 
     Simpson pleading no contest and former pro football players 
     and collegiate football athletes were reported to police for 
     156 alleged offenses of violent behavior toward women. 
     Surprisingly, at the time of that review, 43 of the men 
     accused of domestic violence were active players on NFL team 
     rosters. In fact, to the best of our knowledge, only one NFL 
     player has ever been disciplined for a gender-related 
     offense: former Philadelphia Eagle tackle Kevin Allen, who 
     was denied re-entry after serving a 33-month prison term 
     for rape.
       There is good reason to suspect that domestic violence is 
     even more prevalent among NFL players than these statistics 
     indicate. The Post's review did not uncover all accusations 
     against current and former football players. Many rape and 
     sexual assaults are never reported to police, while 
     additional charges often are kept confidential for 
     preferential reasons.
       Since 1990, multiple studies have shown that there is a 
     significantly higher prevalence of domestic violence among 
     football players than among the general population. For 
     instance in one study that was published last year by 
     researchers at Northeastern University and the University of 
     Massachusetts at Amherst, it was determined that male 
     student-athletes comprised 3.3% of the total population at 10 
     large universities in the National Collegiate Athletic 
     Association (NCAA). But this same group of student athletes 
     represented 19% of the men reported to campus officials for 
     sexual assault from 1991 to 1993.
       Our concern is corroborated by Don Sabo, a social science 
     professor and co-author of ``Sex, Violence and Power in 
     Sports: Rethinking Masculinity.'' He has studied behavioral 
     patterns, while asking ``are athletes more likely than non-
     athletes to engage in sexual abuse? His conclusion: ``Yes, I 
     believe we are discovering a cultural pattern in sports that 
     has been hidden for too long by silence.''
       For far too long a pointless, circular debate has raged 
     over whether the high incidence of domestic violence among 
     professional and collegiate football players is a sports 
     problem or a societal problem. Clearly, it is both. 
     Regardless of how thoroughly we can quantify that athletes 
     commit violence against women at a rate greater than the 
     average population, common sense and repeated tragic examples 
     involving professional football players cry out for 
     coordinated non-governmental and legislative action.
       Surely you recognize the enormous influence that big-time 
     football players at the professional and collegiate levels, 
     as role models, have upon our society. Many men identify with 
     NFL players and look on them as both heroes and role models 
     to be emulated on and off the field. Undoubtedly when 
     instances of domestic violence receive little more than a 
     slap on the wrist in courts and go unpunished by the NFL, as 
     was the case after Minnesota Vikings quarterback Warren Moon 
     reportedly assaulted his wife last summer, that sends an 
     insidious and harmful message to many Americans. 
     Unfortunately, the current message being sent seems to be 
     that domestic violence is not to be taken too seriously and 
     that it is not the indefensible and serious crime that it is.
       This destructive message may have been reinforced by the 
     recent handling of the case of Lawrence Phillips, star 
     running back of the national champion Nebraska Cornhuskers 
     football team. After admitting to a physical attack on his 
     girlfriend last year, Phillips sat out a few games, but was 
     reinstated in time to play in the Fiesta Bowl. Then he was 
     actively encouraged by his college football coach, Tom 
     Osborne, to leave the University of Nebraska early in 
     favor of playing in the NFL, thus minimizing any further 
     public criticism about domestic violence. Apparently the 
     lesson to be drawn from this case is that if you are a 
     good enough football player, you can attack your 
     girlfriend, still play in the big game, leave college 
     early, and pursue an unblemished professional career, 
     essentially free of nagging questions about how you treat 
     your women off the playing field.
       Finally, we are also troubled by public comments of the 
     NFL's Communications Director, Greg Aiello, to the effect 
     that unless domestic violence affects the business of 
     football, then the NFL should be reticent about taking 
     disciplinary action against professional football players who 
     are charged with domestic violence for fear of possible legal 
     action.
       That sounds like a short-sighted rationalization to justify 
     the NFL continuing to ignore domestic violence in its own 
     ranks. When an NFL player is suspected of drug abuse, doesn't 
     the NFL get involved out of consideration for the individual 
     concerned and the public reputation of the NFL regardless of 
     whether the player in question is criminally charged?
       Furthermore, even measured by that self-interested, 
     commercial standard, the NFL and NCAA could have been 
     expected reasonably to have taken coordinated action already 
     to counteract the scourge of domestic violence among football 
     players. Consider the pending case in Virginia where a woman 
     is suing Virginia Tech University over an alleged sexual 
     assault by two college football players and is seeking $8.3 
     million in damages, the same amount the team is estimated to 
     have earned for that university by its appearance in the 1996 
     Sugar Bowl. Clearly taking forceful action against domestic 
     violence makes sound business sense for the NFL and the NCAA.
       In the final analysis, it is not our purpose to single out 
     professional and collegiate football players for special 
     punishment for incidents of domestic violence against their 
     wives or girlfriends, although they certainly should not 
     receive preferential treatment because of their celebrity 
     status in the entertainment world.
       Instead, we are appealing to you to make it a top priority 
     to see to it that the men who are privileged to play 
     professional football, as role models, help to publicly 
     condemn domestic violence as a serious crime and do not sluff 
     it off.

[[Page E1836]]

       Not a week goes by during the NFL season without tens of 
     millions of viewers seeing televised public service 
     announcements by star football players featured in community 
     service and saluting the work of the United Way and other 
     worthy causes. Imagine the public service that would be 
     rendered if the NFL, starting this Super Bowl Sunday, was to 
     sponsor advertisements in which NFL stars help to spread the 
     word that real men don't beat up women and domestic violence 
     is inexcusable.
       We look forward to working with you to find constructive 
     ways that we can team up with the NFL to wage an effective 
     national campaign against domestic violence wherever it 
     occurs.
           Sincerely yours,
     Constance A. Morella,
       Member of Congress.
     Bernard Sanders,
       Member of Congress.
                                                                    ____


                   Public Service Announcement [PSA]

       The PSA is set at a crowded football stadium. Various 
     messages flash on the stadium scoreboard, such as: ``Chevy 
     Nova License # JRZ-847 You Left Your Lights On,'' and ``Happy 
     8th Birthday to Alex Burnard.'' Suddenly, the stadium becomes 
     eerily silent as fans and players look up at a new message: 
     ``Greg Niel, Sec. 829, Seat 12 Roughed Up His Girlfriend Last 
     Night.'' Close-ups of fans and players looking at the 
     scoreboard in shock and disgust appear.
       An athlete on the field takes off his helmet and addresses 
     the camera, ``If you think hitting a women makes you a big 
     man, you won't mind if we let 70,000 people see just how big 
     you are.'' A voice over intones, ``Every 12 seconds a woman 
     in this country is abused. Isn't it time to speak up? Get 
     involved, end relationship violence. Love is not abuse. To 
     help or get help, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline 
     at 1-800-799-SAFE.''
       The spot was created by Liz Claiborne's advertising agency, 
     New York-based Gotham, Inc., and directed by Robert Logevall 
     of Bruce Dowad Associates. Distribution plans for this fall 
     include showcasing the PSA in stadiums at college football 
     games around the country beginning in October, National 
     Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and broadcasting it during 
     regional television coverage of college football games.


                              PSA Partners

       PSA project partners Liz Claiborne Inc., Northeastern 
     University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society, and 
     the College Football Association are promoting the concept 
     that it will take ``intergender collaboration''--men and 
     women working together--to end relationship violence. The 
     partnership also represents the uniting of both the private 
     and public sectors to create social change, which Liz 
     Claiborne hopes will serve as a model for other companies and 
     non-profit organizations to follow.
       The Center for the Study of Sport in Society, a center of 
     Northeastern University, seeks to increase awareness of sport 
     and its relation to society, and to develop activist programs 
     that identify problems, offer solutions, and promote the 
     benefits of sport. Sport in Society's Mentors in Violence 
     Prevention (MVP) Project was established to increase the 
     participation of student-athletes in campus-based efforts to 
     prevent all forms of men's violence against women, and to 
     inspire men to take a leadership position with this issue.
       The College Football Association is the organization which 
     unites 70 Division 1-A major football playing institutions 
     and includes the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big 12, 
     Southeastern, and Western Athletic conferences. The College 
     Football Association provides a forum in which member 
     institutions discuss issues unique to major college football.

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