Harvard announced on Thursday that it was canceling the rest of the season for its men’s soccer team after university officials uncovered what they described as a widespread practice of the team’s players rating the school’s female players in sexually explicit terms.
“We strongly believe that this immediate and significant action is absolutely necessary if we are to create an environment of mutual support, respect and trust among our students and our teams,” Robert L. Scalise, Harvard’s athletic director, wrote in an email to the university’s student-athletes around 6 p.m.
Lawyers for the university began investigating the men’s team after the college newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, reported last week that a player created a nine-page document in 2012 with numeric ratings, photos and lengthy evaluations of the freshman recruits of the Harvard women’s team based on their physical appearance. Men on the team referred to the document as a “scouting report.”
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“We have seen the ‘scouting report’ in its entirety,” they wrote. “We know the fullest extent of its contents: the descriptions of our bodies, the numbers we were each assigned, and the comparison to each other and recruits in classes before us. This document attempts to pit us against one another, as if the judgment of a few men is sufficient to determine our worth.”
The women wrote that they were “beyond hurt” and had considered some of the male players to be “close friends.” But they also saw the discovery of the report as an opportunity to combat such behavior.
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Harvard was No. 1 in the Ivy League standings with a 4-0-1 conference record, 10-3-2 over all. Only two regular-season games were left in the men’s season, against Columbia, which is tied for second, and the University of Pennsylvania. Harvard will forfeit the opportunity to win an Ivy League championship or participate in this year’s N.C.A.A. tournament, Mr. Scalise wrote.
The department, he said, would work with the university’s Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response to educate student-athletes “about the seriousness of these behaviors and the general standard of respect and conduct that is expected.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/sports/harvard-mens-soccer-season-canceled.html?smid=pl-share
“We strongly believe that this immediate and significant action is absolutely necessary if we are to create an environment of mutual support, respect and trust among our students and our teams,” Robert L. Scalise, Harvard’s athletic director, wrote in an email to the university’s student-athletes around 6 p.m.
Lawyers for the university began investigating the men’s team after the college newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, reported last week that a player created a nine-page document in 2012 with numeric ratings, photos and lengthy evaluations of the freshman recruits of the Harvard women’s team based on their physical appearance. Men on the team referred to the document as a “scouting report.”
***
“We have seen the ‘scouting report’ in its entirety,” they wrote. “We know the fullest extent of its contents: the descriptions of our bodies, the numbers we were each assigned, and the comparison to each other and recruits in classes before us. This document attempts to pit us against one another, as if the judgment of a few men is sufficient to determine our worth.”
The women wrote that they were “beyond hurt” and had considered some of the male players to be “close friends.” But they also saw the discovery of the report as an opportunity to combat such behavior.
***
Harvard was No. 1 in the Ivy League standings with a 4-0-1 conference record, 10-3-2 over all. Only two regular-season games were left in the men’s season, against Columbia, which is tied for second, and the University of Pennsylvania. Harvard will forfeit the opportunity to win an Ivy League championship or participate in this year’s N.C.A.A. tournament, Mr. Scalise wrote.
The department, he said, would work with the university’s Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response to educate student-athletes “about the seriousness of these behaviors and the general standard of respect and conduct that is expected.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/sports/harvard-mens-soccer-season-canceled.html?smid=pl-share
