In The Arena Why I’m Going to Work for the NFL

Cynthia C. Hogan has been named senior vice president for public policy and government affairs for the NFL. She previously served as counsel to Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and earlier in her career was chief counsel of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

Twenty years ago, I was chief counsel at the United States Senate Judiciary Committee and had the privilege of working to help enact the Violence Against Women Act. This landmark federal legislation focused on changing the way our criminal justice system and our society respond to domestic abuse and sexual assault. Joe Biden, then a senator and the committee’s chairman, held numerous hearings that for the first time brought sustained national attention to the scope and depth of the domestic violence and sexual assault experienced by women across America and the devastating impact of this violence on women and their children. These hearings revealed that the problem of violence against women exists everywhere, in every community, in every socio-economic class, across every racial and ethnic group. They also showed that the problem of domestic violence is complicated. It occurs where bonds of love and family and financial dependence combine with fear to make it excruciatingly difficult for women to protect themselves or their families or even to place responsibility where it belongs—on the abuser. Because this behavior seems counterintuitive, it was common for survivors to be misunderstood and blamed, and even to feel that they were somehow at fault. And so the law focused on those who could best help survivors of this violence, including law enforcement officers, counselors and shelter providers and prosecutors, offering education and training about the vicious cycle unique to domestic violence and sexual assault and promoting practices that could help survivors break that cycle.

Today, much remains to be done. In many communities, survivors still have too few resources, and law enforcement and the justice system still give too lenient a response to abusers. Too many Americans still do not understand the vicious cycle and either blame the woman or excuse the abuser. But there has been notable progress as well—the annual rate of domestic violence dropped 64 percent between 1993 and 2010. And the public condemnation of abuse, from the attention to sexual assault on college campuses and in the military to incidents of domestic abuse by professional athletes, reveals that at long last attitudes about this violence are changing. Perhaps no event has reflected this more than the response to the NFL and Ray Rice.


I will soon go to work for the NFL to focus on all the public policy issues affecting the league. I look forward to one of those issues being violence against women, and here is why: I heard Commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledge that he made a mistake in July when he suspended Ray Rice for two games, and saw that he then asked experts on violence against women to help the NFL do a better job. Last month he outlined changes in how the NFL would address domestic violence and sexual assault. Among the changes are stronger penalties, but they also include mandatory education programs for all NFL personnel and expanded education programs for college, high school and youth athletes; training for league personnel on warning signs of abusive behavior and confidential intervention for those identified to be at risk; confidential counseling services for all NFL employees and their families; and a commitment to serve as public advocates and partners with those committed to reducing violence against others, including women. These are ongoing programs that can have real impact. Commissioner Goodell told me that he wants the NFL to be part of the solution, not just part of the problem, and that he is “willing to do the hard stuff.”

I suppose it would have been easier for me, in light of the NFL’s mistakes, to say no thanks to working for them. But I think the better decision is to join them in their effort to learn more, educate others, and reduce future violence. The league has a responsibility to fix its problem but also an opportunity to try to change how our society thinks about and responds to a problem that exists everywhere, yet too often remains unseen. The NFL can be a powerful voice for progress and has committed itself to that goal. I want to be part of that effort.