Holding Ourselves Accountable

Last week, the Harvard community learned about the “scouting report” produced by the 2012 men’s soccer team. This week, we discovered that the annual tradition of objectifying members of the women’s soccer team continued into 2016.

When the 2012 report was first exposed by The Crimson, both teams' coaches suggested that the culture of the men's team had improved since then. Sadly, this is not the case.

It is disappointing enough that the 2012 men’s soccer team produced such a report. It is even more disappointing, but perhaps not surprising, that the men’s soccer team has continued this tradition of objectifying, belittling, and demeaning their female counterparts.

The blatant sexism and predatory entitlement portrayed in the report is an egregious reflection on not only members of the team, but also the Harvard community. Therefore, we commend the administration’s swiftness in sanctioning the team and terminating their season. But this punishment, while significant for the athletes involved, is not sufficient. It is ending a season that is already drawing to a close. As a result, it does not do enough to disincentivize this behavior or punish the team members who were either actively involved in creating these misogynistic reports or who tacitly condoned the behavior.

Athletic teams, including the men’s soccer team, already receive educational seminars on sexual assault and sexual harassment. They know that what they are doing is wrong. We need a system of accountability to hold individuals responsible for their wrongdoing and provide real consequences.

In light of this need for individual accountability, we believe that the University must pursue further steps to ensure that the players understand the gravity of their actions. First and foremost, a formal and public apology addressed collectively to the women who were the subjects of this abuse and signed by the members of the men’s team is a necessary step of contrition, remorse, and healing.

An apology alone, however, would be far too little, far too late. Harvard should suspend the team indefinitely pending full-scale investigation of the program, students, and coaching staff. A deeper investigation is warranted, during which the men’s soccer team should remain suspended.

We also do not know whether the men’s soccer team is the only athletic team that actively engages in misogyny and sexual harassment. Therefore, the administration should conduct an investigation of the entire Harvard athletic program. Every athletic team should undergo a thorough investigation—and if evidence of abuse and sexual harassment is revealed, then the University should similarly suspend those teams.

Harvard must also determine whether current men's soccer Coach Pieter S. Lehrer can remain in his current role. In his initial comments about the 2012 report, he vowed to teach his athletes a valuable lesson, while current women's soccer coach Christopher P. Hamblin suggested that this predatory culture was a thing of the past. Clearly, the culture is just as toxic today as it was in 2012. We urge a further investigation to determine the extent to which the coaches and athletic department staff were aware of or complicit in these actions.

Finally, though the investigation conducted by the Office of the General Counsel was vital in revealing truths that the team itself was unwilling to admit, we also urge the administration to provide students with more information on how it was handled in the interest of transparency. Ultimately, such transparency would go hand in hand with the sunlight needed to root out the toxic culture of harassment encapsulated by these revelations. We applaud the University's decisiveness so far, and urge it to continue ensuring that these violations of our community standards are uncovered, addressed, and remedied.