Harvard Suspends Men’s Soccer Team Over Sexually Explicit 'Scouting Reports'

CAMBRIDGE, MA — In the wake of controversy over sexually explicit documents that rated members of the women's soccer team on their appearance, Harvard University is suspending its men's soccer team for the rest of the season.

As first reported by The Harvard Crimson, Athletics Director Bob Scalise emailed student athletes about the cancellation Thursday, writing that the "practice appears to be more widespread across the team and has continued beyond 2012, including in 2016."

Scalise continued, per an email shared with Patch by the university:

"As a direct result of what Harvard Athletics has learned, we have decided to cancel the remainder of the 2016 men’s soccer season. The team will forfeit its remaining games and will decline any opportunity to achieve an Ivy League championship or to participate in the NCAA Tournament this year."

"... 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. ... Harvard Athletics has zero tolerance for this type of behavior. I hope you will work to model a culture within your teams that is reflective of Harvard’s high values."

The soccer team's so-called "scouting report," initially uncovered by the Crimson, ranked incoming members of the 2012 women's soccer team. It reportedly included pictures of the new freshmen recruits, as well as a numerical ranking and recommended sexual position, described in graphic detail.

Upon news that the explicit "reports" continued into 2016, Harvard President Drew Faust wrote to condemn the "appalling actions" and to express distress that they were not isolated to the 2012 team.

"Given this information, I fully support the clear and unequivocal decision made by the Director of Athletics today to cancel the remainder of the team’s season, including post-season play," she wrote in a statement shared by the university Thursday. "The decision to cancel a season is serious and consequential, and reflects Harvard’s view that both the team’s behavior and the failure to be forthcoming when initially questioned are completely unacceptable, have no place at Harvard, and run counter to the mutual respect that is a core value of our community."

According to Scalise, the athletics department plans to partner with the university's Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response to "further educate the members of our men’s soccer team, and all of our student-athletes, about the seriousness of these behaviors and the general standard of respect and conduct that is expected."

Members of the 2012 women's soccer team previously co-authored an op-ed in response to the findings, writing in part:

"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."

"Having considered members of this team our close friends for the past four years, we are beyond hurt to realize these individuals could encourage, silently observe, or participate in this kind of behavior, and for more than four years have neglected to apologize until this week."

"We have seen the 'scouting report' in its entirety. 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. But, men, we know better than that. Eighteen years of soccer taught us that. Eighteen years—as successful, powerful, and undeniably brilliant female athletes - taught us that."

Photo via Shutterstock