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The University of Maine softball squad has been suspended from practice for one week at the onset of the 2008 season and placed on probation until May 31 of the 2010 season. Three of its members will sit out for at least the first two games this season following a one-month investigation by the school into possible hazing during team parties.
UMaine handed down the punishments on Aug. 15, about one month after a watchdog group, ncaahazing, posted pictures on their Web site of 2005 and 2006 off-campus “rookie parties.” At these parties, members of the softball team including the three suspended players, who were dressed in costumes and heavy makeup, were photographed drinking from alcohol containers and making lewd gestures. When http://www.ncaahazing.com, which is not associated with the NCAA, posted the pictures, they forwarded the link to the Bangor Daily News, who published a story about the incident the next day. UMaine started their investigation soon after.
“The message here is clear: we will not tolerate this kind of behavior,” UMaine Athletic Director Blake James said in an Aug. 15 press release. Junior Courtney Gingrich received a 10-game suspension and juniors Ashley Waters and Jenna Balent were each suspended for two games. Gingrich and Waters were stripped of their captaincies, which they were picked to take on this season.
In May 2007, ESPN the Magazine named Waters to its Academic All-District Second Team and the NCAA designated her to its America-East All-Academic team just one week earlier.
When Waters was asked via e-mail to comment on the punishments she responded, “It’s over with.”
Waters told the Portland Press Herald for an Aug. 21 article that she and her teammates had been victims of the hazing, not ringleaders or participants.
“I am now considered guilty of hazing because I did not leave the party or tell someone of authority about it,” Waters told the Herald. “I would or could never have done that. I keep asking myself, if a crime was committed against me, am I guilty of that crime if I do not report it?”
As a result of the team’s suspension, the Black Bears will not be allowed to practice until one week after the time they normally start, which usually falls in mid-January. None of the team’s fall practices or events have been affected.
The entire team will also need to perform 20 hours of community service and attend an anti-hazing and alcohol education program.
The university cited violations of both the student-athlete conduct code and the general code of conduct as the reasons for the suspensions. However, they could not reveal the specifics of the violations and which players were involved because of federal privacy laws. Hazing is prohibited in both documents.
During their investigation, UMaine student conduct officials interviewed nine people involved with the team and the party.
“It was clear [from the interviews] that there was what we would call subtle hazing – that is that there was an expectation that people would participate, that there was an expectation that to be fully involved and accepted on the team you had to be involved,” said Dean of Students Robert Dana. “Also, the younger people were required to dress up and to paint their faces and to perform skits at the request and advice of older players.”
The investigation uncovered that parties like this have been held every year since at least 2004.
The University of Maine System policy manual defines hazing as “any action taken or situation created recklessly or intentionally by an organization or with the knowledge or consent of any organization – to produce mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment, or ridicule to any member or prospective member, or violation of law.”
The Web site http://www.stophazing.org sets up six simple questions to determine if something is hazing: Is alcohol involved? Will active or current members of the group refuse to participate with the new members and do exactly what they’re being asked to do? Does the activity risk emotional or physical abuse? Is there risk of injury or a question of safety? Do you have any reservation describing the activity to your parents, to a professor or University official? Would you object to the activity being photographed for the school newspaper or filmed by the local TV news crew?
The site states that if the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” then the activity is probably hazing.
Similar Web sites have made it their charge to eradicate hazing from college campuses. Some of their methods are more direct and controversial than others. For example, http://www.ncaahazing.com scours other sites like Facebook, Photobucket and MySpace looking for pictures of teams or groups participating in activities that they see as falling under the definition of hazing. They then notify local newspapers and the team’s school of the photographs in an effort to prompt the school to take action and, according to the Web site’s mission statement, force the NCAA to enact “emergency anti-hazing legislation.”
“Some consider hazing as bonding and good-times. It isn’t. Hazing is clearly defined. Hazing is illegal. Hazing has killed,” reads the site’s mission statement.
The University of Maine has an anti-hazing program for all of its sports teams. All student-athletes receive anti-hazing training during their beginning of the year meeting and receive individualized training as the year goes on. Coaches get even more specialized training. School officials have said they will be looking at teams and their conduct more closely.
“They’re bright, capable, confident students first, and they’re all tremendous athletes second,” Dana said of the softball players who were involved in the party. “But here they are posing in pictures that make them look like they’re just silly, out-of-control people who aren’t thinking, and that’s not them.”
“Anytime you exercise power over someone and you, as part of that exercise, expect them to do things that could be silly, that could be physical, anything that you do that’s intimidation or harassment [.] it’s hazing,” Dana said. “There are a lot better ways to form groups and group bonds. Hazing is a very slippery slope, and it can be very dangerous.”
Bangor Daily News