Thirty-seven members of the Boston College swim and dive program dropped their lawsuit against university trustees and two athletic administrators on Friday, one day after a judge denied their motion for immediate reinstatement of the men’s and women’s teams amid an ongoing investigation into allegations of hazing.
“We are disappointed with the decision as the goal of the swimmers was to practice and compete while the investigation proceeds,” said the law firm, Nesenoff & Miltenberg, that represented more than half of the Eagles’ roster. “Because that goal has not been achieved, the swimmers have decided to dismiss the lawsuit. We continue to hope that the school will consider lifting the suspension and alleviating the mental health strain it continues to have on the entire team.”
The plaintiffs filed their lawsuit on Oct. 17, about a month after they were suspended indefinitely over “credible reports of hazing.” Details later emerged that freshmen were apparently instructed to binge drink and wear bags of their vomit around their necks during a team party in early September. The lawsuit sought to lift the unjustified “blanket suspension,” but their arguments failed to convince Middlesex Superior Court judge Diane Freniere that BC acted unlawfully.
BC administrators submitted court documents claiming the hazing event was a team tradition, and that members of the program had also been busted last year for hazing. Freniere determined that the Eagles were “clearly and repeatedly warned” about the potential consequences for their actions.
“In 2023, no college student could be unaware of the dire dangers of hazing,” wrote Freniere, who also ruled Wednesday that the plaintiffs could not continue their case anonymously. “While it is regrettable that certain members of the team did not participate in or know of the hazing incident are suffering the consequences of the team suspension, that reality is an acceptable collateral consequence.”
Even if Freniere had granted the preliminary injunction, BC could have still suspended the teams again after its official investigation concluded. The university has enlisted outside attorneys to interview all 68 team members and complete its investigation.
“We are pleased that the parents have made the appropriate decision to drop their lawsuit,” BC spokesperson Jack Dunn said. “We hope that they will recognize the seriousness of these hazing allegations and join Boston College in its efforts to eradicate hazing from college sports.”
It’s rare for colleges to self-suspend entire programs for hazing, but it has happened before. In 2015, Western Kentucky suspended its men’s and women’s swimming and diving program for five years in the wake of a hazing scandal that resulted in the termination of the coaching staff. Ultimately, the school cut the program.
I still find punishing the entire team for the misdeeds of others to be, well, unfair.
I posted what’s below in response to another related article, but given Joe’s comments in this thread, it bears repeating:
This whole discussion needs reframing and, frankly, exemplifies everything that is wrong with U.S. values. In a world where “almost half the world’s population lives on less than $6.85 a day” (https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/overview), the ability to self-focus upon one’s individual talent is nothing less than a luxury and therefore a privilege, one that only the most affluent amongst us can afford (Boston College’s sticker price for undergraduate tuition, r & b and fees for the 2023-24 academic year is almost 85k, and only 42% of undergrad students had financial packages that included need-based scholarships… Read more »
Whoa. You are undoubtedly correct that compared to big global issues, such as famine and poverty, the BC suspension pales in comparison. Their gripes with the school and subsequent court action are about sports, certainly not life and death. But rightfully, this is a swimming website and comment section focused on just these types of stories.
First, why do students feel the need to haze like this? Second, with all of the press that hazing has received in recent years, including legal consequences and examples like Western Kentucky losing its swimming program due to hazing, why do teams still think it’s acceptable and that there won’t be consequences? For sports like swimming in particular, this also gives administrators an excuse to cut the program (i.e. WKU). Just my thoughts off the top of my head.
Western Kentucky? They were suspended for violent sexualized beatings. Pervasive racism. Chokings. There are degrees of bad behavior. The circumstances bear no similarities. But here we are comparing them. Based on a grossly exaggerated spin on facts that BC can broadcast but will literally never have to prove. And readers have eaten it up. Bring on the down arrows.
The psychology underlying these offenses is identical. And one might argue that what appears on the surface to be less harmful is actually more insidious because it is precisely athletes at schools like BC who then go on to dominate industries like Wall Street.
Schools like BC?
Being forced to drink one’s own vomit, not similar? Really?
Didn’t happen. Keep up.
Keep trying to justify horrible behaviors, that will take you far in life.
I actually use my real name on this because I’m willing to stand by everything I say.
Wait but it was a yearly tradition!
That’s anticlimactic end.
I was expecting more drama.
It is a shame to so clearly see a University have it out for one of their own programs and punishing innocent students that pay to go to the school.
Punishing innocent students? What world do you live in?
The administrators didn’t put bags of puke around their neck. The athletes did that, right?
Part of being an adult is facing consequences for your actions. Good on BC for teaching them this important lesson.
If there was hazing, then there were victims … in other words INNOCENT STUDENTS!!!!! You can’t have one without the other. Gotta love people who truly believe in victim shaming.
Victim shaming?
No one forcibly made these kids do these things. They chose to. Choices have consequences.
Any way you want to slice this the team was in the wrong.
If it was an annual thing it was preventable.
If it wasn’t all of the kids could say no.
Stop coddling these young adults – hopefully this is an impactful enough experience that they learn and grow from it.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️
Play stupid games. Win stupid prizes.
The athletes that allegedly weren’t involved should perhaps turn their ire towards their teammates that chose to jeopardize the teams seasons instead of at the administrators who were forced to act when these allegations came to light.