Student athletes and staff alike are calling for more security on UW Athletics premises, according to a safety survey released by UW Athletics Friday.
In addition to worries over facility security, students and staff also expressed concern about student athletes’ access to health care, including mental health care, and reporting protocol. The results, which were gathered by Assistant Athletic Director Walter Dickey per the request of UW Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez, will help the department prioritize programming improvements in coming years.
"The health and safety of our student-athletes and staff are my top priority," said Alvarez. "I am both thankful that we have much already in place that addresses those needs and appreciative of the thoughtful recommendations the review has yielded. The bottom line is that this review will make Wisconsin Athletics better."
In all, more than 500 student athletes and athletic department staff responded to an online survey, and the department conducted interviews with athletes from all 23 department sports. The results of the survey will be presented at the next Board of Regents meeting, which will be held Oct. 4 at UW-Parkside.
"I appreciate the hard work of our review group as well as the cooperation of the student-athletes and athletics staff," Dickey said. "Their honesty was critical in helping us form the recommendations we are making to the athletic department. This was an important process to undertake and one that I believe will serve as the foundation for improvement across the department."
