Rugby Players Arrested In Connecticut

Two Harvard rugby players were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct on Wednesday afternoon in Greenwich, Conn. after they were allegedly spotted running naked across the street, according to the Greenwich Police Department.

Officers placed Stephen A. Longo ’06 and Robert C. Boutwell ’06 under arrest at 4 p.m. after a Greenwich resident reported that they were streaking, a police report said.

Greenwich police said the two Thayer residents were arrested after a chase through Bruce Park, a popular recreational area with several baseball fields.

Longo, a center on the team, and Boutwell, a prop, were apparently drinking at the home of another team member in the town’s upscale Mead Point neighborhood, police said.

John M. Rudey—the 59-year-old father of one of Harvard’s wingers who police said hosted about 30 players at his house in Greenwich—was arrested at the same time and charged with providing alcohol to minors and reckless endangerment.

Police released Longo and Boutwell, who is also a Crimson editor, on $100 cash bond—on the condition that they appear in Stamford Superior Court with Rudey for an arraignment on May 14.

Athletic and College administrators said yesterday they were unsure what disciplinary action would be taken against the arrested individuals or the team.

Associate Director of Athletics John E. Wentzell, who is in charge of club sports, said he hadn’t collected enough information to decide what action the department would take. However, he said that club teams have never been permitted to have parties with alcohol.

“Alcohol should not be a part of any club activity. It’s written right there in the handbook, and I don’t think there’s a single club president who doesn’t know that,” Wentzell said.

But he said that any judgement about what measures administrators will take with the rugby team is premature.

“There’s no rush to judgement,” Wentzell said. “Obviously, we’re really concerned for the health and safety of the kids.”

In 1998, a group of intoxicated rugby players who had just returned from a game at Cornell University urinated in the Malkin Athletic Center parking lot as varsity softball coach Jenny Allard was showing a recruit and her parents around campus.

At the same time, the driver of one of the team vans—who was sober—hit a parked car in the lot.

These incidents prompted the athletic department to disband the rugby team for the season in accordance with the Club Sports Handbook’s mandate forbidding the use of alcohol at a club event.

Wentzell said that although the team was suspended once, these prior infractions will not bias the assessment of the current situation.

But he also said that there was a possibility that the team could face similar disciplinary action again if circumstances warranted.

“If it was possible once, it can be possible again,” he said.

Wentzell said the rugby team’s behavior has been exemplary since it was reinstated.

“Men’s rugby has been a model club since they came back. They’ve done wonderful things,” he said. “That’s why this has us so concerned. They’re a great group to work with.”

Wentzell called this year a “Cinderella season” for the team, which came in second place in last weekend’s national championships in Stanford, Calif.

College administrators also said they are unsure whether any disciplinary action will be taken against any of the students involved.

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 wrote in an e-mail that he could not comment “on disciplinary actions that may or may not be pending against any individual students.”

Assistant Dean of Freshmen James N. Mancall—who serves as the academic and residential dean for Ivy Yard, which includes Thayer—wrote in an e-mail that he could not speak to any specific circumstances, but said that “the College does expect students to behave maturely and responsibly, both on and off campus.”

—Material from the Associated Press was used in the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Hana R. Alberts can be reached at alberts@fas.harvard.edu.