Director of UNT Athletics charged with homophobia, inappropriate comments from students and staff – North Texas Daily

A former student athlete did come forward recently on allegations of homophobia and harassment against Carl Sheffield, the director of the University of North Texas’ athletics program.

The subsequent investigation by the Equal Opportunities Office in 2020 found that the incident was “unfounded” as harassment, although the report does not deny that the incident occurred.

Sheffield didn’t respond to that North Texas Daily Newspaper Request for comments.

Tatum Catalani-Henderson, a university alumna, was a sprinter on the team in 2019-2020 after playing on the university womens basketball team the year before. According to Catalani-Henderson, Catalani-Henderson had lunch with a teammate Sheffield and an assistant coach in the Champs Dining Hall on one of the first days of training in the Fall of 2019.

During lunch, Sheffield asked Catalani-Henderson if it was true that “most female basketball players are lesbian”. Soon after, Sheffield began to ask her another question before pausing to say that “I am legally not allowed to ask you this.”

According to Catalani-Henderson, Sheffield reached out to Catalani-Henderson’s teammate, who refused to work with the Daily, and asked the teammate to ask Catalani-Henderson if she “likes boys or girls”. The teammate did this, which made Catalani-Henderson “extremely uncomfortable”.

“I identify as bisexual but given the context of the conversation, I felt uncomfortable sharing this with my coach as he knew the question was illegal but he still found a way to ask me,” said Catalani-Henderson .

After Catalani-Henderson said she liked boys, Sheffield replied that he was very appreciative of her and that if she had answered otherwise, he would “have to think negatively of you”. Sheffield then commented on how he treated LGBTQ + people “differently” because he couldn’t help it, citing a “generational gap”.

Catalani-Henderson was a closed-off bisexual at the time and said the incident had affected her personally, emotionally, mentally, and academically.

“I no longer felt like becoming an athlete or really producing something academically or athletically for [Sheffield]”Said Catalani-Henderson. “Your coach is a huge part of everything you do as an athlete and you want to have a coach who inspires you to do things and I’ve lost all respect for him since then.”

Catalani-Henderson did not immediately report the incident because she was concerned about losing her athletic scholarship. At the end of September 2020, EO received a complaint and started the investigation. A final decision was published in late November 2020.

“North Texas Athletics Takes All Allegations of Harassment or Discrimination Seriously” said Taylor Bryan, senior associate AD strategic communications, on behalf of athletics. “[…] The athletics department fully supports EO and respects its role in [the investigative] Process.”

According to EO Examination documents, Sheffield said he had no recollection of the incident and indicated that he would never have a conversation of this kind with a student-athlete.

EO interviewed the above student witness and the athlete said she remembered the incident and remembered Catalani-Henderson being upset. The witness said she knew that Sheffield is a “gossip who loves to know everyone’s affairs and to tell everyone’s affairs”.

The investigation also included David Burnett, who was serving as Catalani-Henderson’s event coach at the time of the incident. In the report, Burnett said he did not recall the incident “but would not trust Coach Sheffield to say such a thing” because Sheffield had previously been said to have made inappropriate comments, including statements about female appearances Athletes.

The final report of the investigation found that although the incident occurred, there was no harassment according to Higher education policy 16.004which prohibits discrimination, harassment and retaliation, because it was not “sufficiently heavy, penetrating, or persistent”. EO noted that Sheffield’s comments did not affect Catalani-Henderson’s “ability to be a member of the track and field team”.

While Catalani-Henderson was happy with the investigation process, she said “there were many things that were actually left out of the report”. She said she felt debilitated when EO found the incident was not serious enough to be considered harassment under university policy and was frustrated with aspects of the case that were missing from the final decision.

“I said [EO] the many ways the incident affected my mental and emotional health and that not a day went by after the incident that I did not think about what [Sheffield] said to me, ”said Catalani-Henderson. “Even though I told them these things, they didn’t include them in the report at all.”

Catalani-Henderson said she had “no word other than” falsified “for the report because of direct quotations in the documents that she could not remember. That includes a sentence in the report that said she felt “shy” which Catalani-Henderson believes she underestimates her discomfort in Sheffield.

The former student athlete said that Daily She didn’t feel physically unsafe around Sheffield, but was mentally and emotionally restless around the coach because she never knew if he was going to say anything inappropriate. Catalani-Henderson worried “every day” that she would do something to make Sheffield believe she was gay. The former athlete also confirmed Burnett’s testimony that Sheffield regularly commented on the clothes and hair of female athletes.

“I don’t think there was a single LBGTQ + athlete on the team who felt safe around [Sheffield]”Said Catalani-Henderson. “A lot of people who stepped out of the closet and were openly gay felt very discriminated against by him and felt bad as teachers because he knew they were gay. That was a problem everyone on the team was aware of beforehand [my] Incident happened. ”

While Catalani-Henderson was unable to lodge a complaint with EO, a new initiative Created this month in part by the Student Government Association and Equal Opportunities Director Eve Shatteen Bell, it will allow complainants to the investigation to appeal in the future. Within five days of the final decision, complainants can submit a correction of a mistake by EO or new evidence that was previously not available.

“The vast majority of EO cases don’t involve students, so we really didn’t write the procedures with students in mind,” said Bell. “When SGA came to me and explained how this would affect the students, we made this change immediately.”

Regarding Catalani-Henderson’s concerns about the investigative process, Jim Berscheidt, vice president of branding strategy and communications for the university, made a statement prior to the Daily on behalf of President Neal Smatresk.

“Recently, the former UNT student raised concerns about the process and other potential allegations,” said Berscheidt. “The university will always investigate all reported violations our policy as soon as they are received. “

Other members of the athletics team have given their own experiences with Sheffield to members of the Daily. They were granted anonymity for fear of retaliation.

“However [Tatum] said is true and i think [the university] I have to take a look, ”said a student athlete who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of losing his sports scholarship. “Tatum has already spoken to all of us about it. I just hope that she can fight her case. “

The student said that Daily that Sheffield made a lot of inappropriate comments which he then called a joke. Nowadays, the athlete advises his teammates to text or email Sheffield so that the conversation is recorded in writing and that every one-on-one conversation with the coach is recorded.

“For me it’s the lies,” said the student athlete. “[Sheffield] lies a lot. That’s my problem with Sheffield because whatever he says to the people at the top, they always believe him. “

Catalani-Henderson has replied to several university Twitter accounts with screenshots of their testimonials. This includes the pages of Smatresk, the Division of Athletics, and the North Texas Athletics Team.

Some of Catalani-Henderson’s Twitter comments were hidden on Mean Green Track’s Twitter page. Tweet authors like MGT Twitter have the option to hide replies to posts, which will reveal a hidden reply icon at the bottom of the original tweet. The athletics department didn’t go on that Daily‘s question, why these posts were hidden.

“I think [UNT] has made some effort to promote diversity, but they have nowhere near succeeded, ”said a current athletics employee who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of the consequences. “It seems like they are just trying to check the boxes instead of actually doing something and implementing a more inclusive environment.”

The employee said in June that members of the athletics administration had decided not to post a social media graphic in celebration of Pride Month.

The athletics department has posted on its Instagram and Twitter pages to commemorate June th, Month of Women’s History and Hispanic Heritage Month. However, there is no Pride content on Athletics’ social media accounts unlike other departments including, but not limited to Student affairs, University libraries and Admissions.

The employee said he was told by a colleague that Athletics’ decision not to commemorate Pride Month on social media was made “out of donor sensitivity.” Athletics didn’t address that Daily‘s question, what sets Pride Month apart from the other events the department recognizes.

“It’s been frustrating and disappointing in many ways because I’m part of the LGBTQ + community,” said the Athletics representative. “It gave me a break.”

When it comes to Catalani-Henderson’s experience, the employee, who has been in the athletics industry for nine years, was not surprised.

“Instead of only making decisions from above and only having conversations from above, [Athletics] Include employees and athletes in the discussions, ”said the employee. “You have to find a way to get up and down instead of waiting for vulnerable populations to come forward.”

The Division of Athletics said it has held “listening tours” with student athletes, coaches and staff for the past two years. Several new ones Inclusion Initiatives were thereby set up in the department. This includes a promise of unity read out before every sporting competition, training at an educational company for social justice and a fund to finance further projects.

“The athletics department is unwavering in our commitment to fostering an inclusive and respectful environment for all,” said Bryan.

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