Spreadsheet Earns Harvard Cross Country 'Athletic Probation'

The Harvard men’s cross country team was placed on “athletic probation” after an internal review found that members of the 2014 team had made “crude and sexualized statements” about that year’s women’s team on an online spreadsheet, according to the Boston Globe.

This follows an incident in which the men’s soccer team at Harvard saw its season cancelled for making similar lewd statements about the women’s soccer team in what the team called a “scouting report.”

From AB: Harvard Team Perpetuates Harassment, Forfeits Season

After the soccer team’s punishment was announced, cross country captain Brandon Price brought his team’s spreadsheet to the attention of his head coach.

Harvard athletic director Robert L. Scalise announced the cross country team’s probation in an email to team members, but the email does not define “athletic probation.”

From the Harvard Crimson:

...the team created spreadsheets commenting on members of the women’s team and predicting which women would invite the men to a Sadie Hawkins-style dance. While the review found that now-graduated athletes had made “sexualized” comments in the 2014 spreadsheet, the 2016 spreadsheet had not included any “personally denigrating entries aimed at members of the women’s team.”

The email detailed that members of the 2016 team sought school support in improving the team’s culture, and took responsibility for the issues they had in the past. The team will now participate in training and education to help correct the problems.

“Harvard Athletics is working… to identify appropriate training and educational opportunities in which all members of the team will be required to participate,” Scaliese wrote. “We want to again acknowledge that members of the current men’s cross country team, including the team captain, came forward to bring the spreadsheets to our attention.”