Coakley Urges MIAA to Adopt Policies to Stop Teen Dating Violence

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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Reacting to a rash of domestic abuse related news coming out of the NFL, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley and Democratic candidate for Attorney General Maura Healey teamed up to addressing the growing issue of domestic violence.

Coakley and Healey recently sent out a letter to the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) urging the association to create stronger policies addressing teen dating violence.

“The recent acts of domestic violence committed by players in the National Football League have shined a light on a problem that has impacted far too many families for far too long,” said Coakley and Healey in their letter. “The actions by these professional athletes, and the insufficient response by the National Football League, have sent the wrong message to our young people about the seriousness of domestic violence and violence against women.”

In addition to urging the MIAA to create new, stronger policies, Coakley and Healey left the door open to the association to work together if they are elected. Both candidates have spent time in their career advocating to protect the women and children of Massachusetts. 

A Call to Action

In an effort to stop domestic violence at a young age, Coakley and Healey want to see more education and awareness for student-athletes, something that should help to cut down on teen dating violence in the future.

According to loveisrespect.org, nearly 1.5 million high school students experience physical abuse from their dating partner. Additionally, one in four high school girls have been a victim of physical or sexual abuse, which puts them at an increased risk for suffering from eating disorders, substance abuse, and being further victims of domestic violence.

Coakley and Healey made a few recommendations in their letter, most notably to adapt a rule already in place for hazing to the realm of teen dating abuse. Coakley and Healey recommend that student-athletes at the beginning of each season should be spoken to about the dangers and consequences of teen dating abuse and that each student-athlete should pledge to not commit act of teen dating violence.

“We urge you now to consider adopting similarly strong policies against teen dating violence,” said Coakley and Healey. “We understand that the MIAA has already offered trainings on this issue and many coaches have taken it upon themselves to discuss teen dating violence with their players. These are all positive steps, and we believe the MIAA could take further steps to directly communicate with all student-athletes across the Commonwealth.”

Ready to Work Together

According to Bill Gaine, the Executive Director of the MIAA, there are already a lot of rules and policies in place to address the issue of teen dating violence with student-athletes throughout Massachusetts.

Many of the rules in place – most notably a citizenship rule that addresses self-respect and respect of others - are broad enough in the sense that they already cover the issue of teen dating violence. With that being said, Gaine said that he is glad that the issue was brought up and that both Coakley and Healey offered their support in crafting new, more pointed policies, provided that is something the membership of the MIAA is open to.

"Sportsmanship is something that deals with respect and we are completely opposed to these behaviors; we have policies, programming, and recognition programs in place to prevent them," said Gaine. "I was pleased to see the overture about working together on the projects; it certainly provides us with the support that we need because of the funding issues in running some of these outreach programs. We have rules that while focusing on issues like alcohol and hazing, they still apply to teen dating violence. If our membership is in favor of and wants to move forward with a more direct rule, it is certainly something we could work on in the future."

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