Harvard Cancels Men's Season For Sexual Comments

The Boston Globe reported yesterday that Harvard University has cancelled its last two games of the men's soccer season for lewd comments about the women's team in 2012, that apparently continued into this year.  The Crimson were 10-3-2 with two Ivy League matches remaining.

On July 31, 2012, a sexually explicit "scouting report" on freshmen women players was distributed.  It was found that the practice of "scouting" continued into this season.

The Globe quoted athletic director Robert Scalise as saying that the suspension of the rest of the season is “absolutely necessary if we are to create an environment of mutual support, respect, and trust among our students and our teams.”  But according to the Globe, some students disagreed with the action.

“If it were the whole team, then the whole team should be suspended,” said Christopher Rios, 19, a freshman from Texas to the Globe. “If it were just some players, they should just be suspended. If the coaches knew, they should be suspended.”

A female sophomore, who asked not to be named, was quoted as saying  Harvard is scapegoating the soccer team. Harvard announced a new policy this year to discourage participation in so-called finals clubs and other single-sex organizations on campus.

“What the soccer team did was not isolated,” she said. “The college used them as an example. It’s not fair.”

I have never been a big fan of group penalties, punishing those who may have played no role in the offensive behavior.  As reprehensible as the conduct of at least some men's players was, is it fair to take the season - including a possible NCAA bid - from players who worked hard all year and had nothing to do with the offensive material?  Is it fair to Penn and Columbia, who will each see a forfeit win on their record but who will each miss out on a game?

The heroes in this are Brooke Dickens, Kelsey Clayman, Alika Keene, Emily Mosbacher, Lauren Varela and Haley Washburn, the Class of 2016 recruits who were the subject of the 2012 "scouting report." On October 29 they published a courageous and strong response to the actions of the men's players in the Harvard Crimson that is worth reading in its entirety.

The women wrote, "In all, we do not pity ourselves, nor do we ache most because of the personal nature of this attack. More than anything, we are frustrated that this is a reality that all women have faced in the past and will continue to face throughout their lives. We feel hopeless because men who are supposed to be our brothers degrade us like this. We are appalled that female athletes who are told to feel empowered and proud of their abilities are so regularly reduced to a physical appearance. We are distraught that mothers having daughters almost a half century after getting equal rights have to worry about men's entitlement to bodies that aren't theirs. We are concerned for the future, because we know that the only way we can truly move past this culture is for the very men who perpetrate it to stop it in its tracks."

The Crimson originally reported the story on October 25,