A three-year U.S. Department of Justice investigation has determined that the University of Maryland, Baltimore County knew about allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination against former swimming and diving coach Chad Cradock and failed to respond.
As reported by CBS affiliate WJZ, Cradock, who died in 2021, was accused of sexually harassing male student-athletes and discriminating against female student-athletes, and the university had known about the allegations, the report shows.
Cradock last coached at UMBD in 2020 and died in 2021.
On Monday, the DOJ notified the university that its lack of response violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX).
"UMBC's failures allowed the former head coach to exploit his power over student-athletes, prey on student-athletes' vulnerabilities and engage in egregious and ongoing abuse spanning many years," the DOJ report stated.
Among other things, the DOJ's investigation found that, as early as 2015 and continuing through 2020, UMBC was on notice of and failed to respond adequately to allegations that the former head coach filmed students while showering and sexually touched male student-athletes on the pool deck, in the locker room and in the bathroom of the university's aquatics center, WJZ's Adam Thompson reported.
From 2016 through 2020, the athletics department failed to report several incidents of dating violence by male student-athletes against female teammates, according to the DOJ, and athletics staff and male swimming and diving teammates also made degrading comments about female student-athletes' bodies, and the head coach asked invasive questions about their sexual relationships, Thompson reported.
"We will not tolerate sexual harassment and abuse of student-athletes on college campuses in our country. Too many school officials and administrators knew something for UMBC to have done nothing," said assistant attorney general Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, as reported by WJZ. "The Justice Department will continue to hold our nation's colleges and universities to their promise to educate students free from sexual harassment and discrimination — our young people deserve nothing less. We will continue to stand with the survivors of sexual harassment and ensure that schools take actions necessary to protect students from this kind of degrading and painful discrimination and abuse."
“We take full responsibility for what happened, and we commit ourselves not only to addressing the failures, but also to rebuilding our community’s trust,” UMBC [resident Valerie Sheares Ashby said in an emailed statement to the campus community Monday afternoon, as reported by The Baltimore Banner.
"An agreement with the DOJ will be signed and shared publicly in the coming days," Ashby said. "It will specify critical changes in the way the university responds to reports of sexual misconduct and discrimination. We have also reset the Athletic Department's structure, governance, and reporting mechanisms, starting with making the athletic director a direct report to me."
