The incident at SFU concerned the photographing of seven freshmen simulating various sexual positions while fully-clothed in team uniforms. The photos eventually made their way into the hands of head coach Liam Donnelly who then forwarded them onto university officials.
The photos were just one of several activities that occured at the team get-together. Other activities included speed-eating a mixture of olives, pineapple and oatmeal and trivia questions about the history of Clan swimming. That history now has a black stain.
The decision, according to Associate Vice President of Students Nello Angerilli, was a difficult one, however the Ottawa Citizen reports, the school has a strict anti-hazing policy and that this was not the first incident of swimmers being disciplined for hazing incidents.
Arseniy Akuney, who transferred to SFU from Central Washington where the program was cut, told the Citizen that the incident was overblown, noting, "I don't think we've done anything wrong. We're adults. We're university students. We got together and played some games." Akuney reportedly transferred out of SFU in January.
Jessica Verheyden, a sophomore expressed her disappointment to the London Free Press, noting "We signed a contract in September saying that we wouldn't participate, or haze, or whatever," she said. "No one was hurt or harmed, but where do you draw the line?"
The incident was the second to affect the University in the past three years. The other reportedly included team members who participated in the most recent incident.
At Middlebury, head Coach Peter Solomon also addressed the incident head on by cancelling the remainder of the season for the team including this past weekend's NESCAC and this month's NCAA Championships. Solomon told the Middlebury Campus, the university's student newspaper, "Once I became aware of the drinking violations, I wanted to make the consequences quick and significant."
The Panthers Tristram Arscott had already achieved a 'B' standard while Rob Collier and Tim Lux were returning NCAA Qualifiers. The move will certainly impact this week's selection of the NCAA Qualifiers, but Solomon feels the impact on the team will ultimately strengthen the squad. The coach told The Campus, that the stance has resulted in positive feedback from recruits and their parents.
The decision has also elicited a positive reponse from team members. Arscott told The Campus that the decision was a necessary one, "While it is hard to accept his decision, we give him our complete support." The Campus also issued an editorial strongly supporting Coach Solomon's decision.
A study by Colleen McGlone at the University of New Mexico revealed widespread hazing with more than 20% (approximately 11,000) of Division I athletes subjected to alcohol-related hazing. Even more student athletes were subjected to "mental hazing," which includes singing or dancing, practical jokes and being stranded or "kidnapped" while one in ten was subjected to physical hazing, such as being branded, tattooed, beaten, thrown in water or having their head forcibly shaved.
Increasingly institutions have taken a proactive stance against hazing. Hartwick College and Marquette University suspended their lacrosse teams while McGill University cancelled its football season. Failing to take a stand, or even recognizing hazing has proven costly - both to the schools and administrators faced with civil and criminal lawsuits, and to the coaches who run the risk of losing their livlihood. In the past year a high schools in New York and North Carolina have faced $50 million and $40 million lawsuits. A Florida high school soccer coach lost his job following a "swirly" that resulted in neurological damage. The state also passed sweeping anti-hazing legislation following an incident resulting in a a $14 million judgement for a victim.
Though it is not typically the place of CollegeSwimming.com to editorialize, we applaud the decisions of Simon Fraser University and Coach Soloman at Middlebury for taking such a strong stance against this practice. We feel that participation in collegiate athletics is a privilege and being a member of an intercollegiate team is an honor that need not be developed through the degredation of an individual or the sport.
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