Lady Vols barred from discussing 'sex assault' culture

Bashaara Graves was all smiles and surrounded by loved ones after the Tennessee senior forward from Clarksville grabbed four rebounds in a 69-51 victory against Vanderbilt on Thursday night at Memorial Gymnasium, moving into eighth place on the school’s all-time list in her final appearance in a Lady Vols uniform in Nashville.

“I’ve definitely grown up. I think that’s the biggest thing, is just me growing up and just being ready for the real world,” Graves said. “When I first got here, I think one of my biggest problems was kind of my attitude, and they checked that pretty quickly. And I think I’ve just gotten used to (being disciplined) and just matured as a grown woman.”

But Graves, one of the most prominent female students at the University of Tennessee, was barred from discussing whether she feels safe on UT’s Knoxville campus after six anonymous women filed a federal lawsuit against the university on Tuesday in Nashville, alleging the school maintains a culture that enables sexual assaults by male student athletes.

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A UT media relations assistant twice objected to questions posed to Graves, instructing her not to answer. Another player said the team had been banned from speaking publicly about the subject.

But Lady Vols coach Holly Warlick, who called Graves an “emotional leader” of the program during an exclusive interview with The Tennessean, didn’t hesitate to discuss her players’ safety when asked about the alleged sexual assaults on and off campus.

“We just travel in groups and do what you’re supposed to do,” Warlick said. “You just don’t travel late at night. Our kids feel extremely safe on our campus. Our campus is extremely safe, and I think kids got to be responsible and they’ve got to be smart. You don’t go out by yourself at night, I don’t care where you are.

“Through everything, we want to make sure these kids get better on the basketball end, but we’ve got to make sure they grow up as young women and (become) self-sufficient and take care of themselves. That’s a great goal of ours. Outside of getting a degree, they’ve got to make sure that they take care of themselves and they can make a living and understand that women are powerful and they can do whatever they want to do. That’s our job — get them mature and go out in the world and be ready for it.

“They’re our kids, and their mom, their dad, their guardian, they’re entrusting their kid with us, and I take a lot of responsibility in making sure that — obviously on the basketball court — but I take a lot of pride in making sure they try to do the right things. Do we do everything right? Absolutely not. They’re kids. They’re immature. But just try to put them in a situation where they can succeed.”

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The plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit allege the university uses a judicial process biased against victims who report attacks, and accuses five Tennessee athletes of sexual assault, including former men’s basketball player Yemi Makanjuola, former football players A.J. Johnson, Michael Williams and Riyahd Jones and a current football player referred to as "John Doe."

The lawsuit also details an incident involving a female student who says she was sexually assaulted by an unnamed non-athlete after a football team party at a campus dorm and goes on to cite more than a dozen alleged incidents involving football players that included sexual harassment, assault, underage drinking and other crimes.

The university denied the allegations in a prepared statement released Tuesday by attorney Bill Ramsey, saying in part that UT has “devoted significant time and energy to provide a safe environment for our students, to educate and raise awareness about sexual assault, and to encourage students to come forward and report sexual assault. When the University receives a report of sexual assault, we offer care and support to the person who came forward and work to investigate and resolve the matter in a timely, thorough, and equitable manner.”

Parents of UT women’s basketball players who spoke to The Tennessean were floored by the accusations in the lawsuit.

Nesha Jackson, the mother of freshman forward Meme Jackson, a former standout at Blackman High in Murfreesboro, believes her daughter is safe at UT.

“No matter what, I have always felt like she has been taken care of there,” Jackson said. “They look out for (student-athletes) there. She has never expressed any concerns about her safety or anything like that to me, so I don’t have any concerns either.”

“Meme is a social butterfly. She knows a lot of the other athletes. They all hang around each other, all the ones from different sports. I am just now hearing things about (the sexual assault lawsuit). I’m not very aware of the details. But she hasn’t ever given me any reason for concern about anything there. She’s thriving, in the classroom and socially, and she feels like they take care of them there.”

Celeste Middleton, the mother of sophomore guard Alexa Middleton, a former standout at Riverdale High in Murfreesboro, echoed the sentiment.

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“I’ve just started reading about (the news of sexual assault lawsuit),” Middleton said. “Of course, I was quite surprised because Alexa is around a lot of other athletes — women and men — and she feels very happy, very secure with who she’s around.

“I’ve gotten to know some administrators there (at UT), and I feel very comfortable with her there and around other athletes. I think Alexa was surprised when some of the issues started coming out because she had no idea. And I can tell you that the issues that have come out are absolutely not the overall culture of the university or the athletes.”

The plaintiffs allege UT violated Title IX laws that protect students from gender discrimination, and claim UT Knoxville Chancellor Jimmy Cheek, athletics director Dave Hart and football coach Butch Jones were notified of sexual assaults and rapes by student athletes, “yet acted with deliberate indifference to the serious risks of sexual assaults and failed to take corrective actions."

The university "delayed the investigation process until the athlete perpetrators transferred to another school or graduated without sanction or discipline," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also claims that former Tennessee wide receiver Drae Bowles was twice confronted and assaulted by UT teammates as retribution for taking a female student-athlete to the hospital in November 2014, and encouraging her to speak with authorities when she said she was raped by Johnson and Williams. Both have been charged with two counts of aggravated rape and are awaiting separate trials.

Williams' trial is set for June 27 and Johnson's is set for July 18. Both have pleaded not guilty.

The plaintiffs are seeking reimbursement and pre-payment for all of their tuition, expenses incurred as a result of the sexual assaults, and damages for emotional suffering and deprivation of equal access to educational benefits and opportunities provided by the university. They're also seeking an injunction to force the state to stop using the administrative hearing process, which allows students accused of sexual assault the right to attorneys and to confront their accusers through cross-examination during a hearing before an administrative law judge appointed by Cheek.

Graves, the senior women’s basketball player, after celebrating the Lady Vols’ victory Thursday and a round of hugs with friends and family, was eventually allowed to speak about her and her teammates’ safety, but not about the lawsuit.

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“I think anywhere we go, even if it doesn’t have to do with basketball,” Graves said, “we’re always with our teammates and our teammates look out for each other. No matter if we’re going out to dinner or just out with some friends, we’re always going to look out for each other. That’s what real teammates do.”

Tennessean reporter Adam Sparks contributed to this story. Reach Jason Wolf at jwolf@tennessean.com and on Twitter at @JasonWolf.