The Harvard cross country team was placed on athletic probation for creating a spreadsheet to sexually evaluate their female counterparts.
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The Harvard men's soccer team had the rest of its season cancelled after team members did something similar for the women's soccer team. The cross country team members were cooperative in the investigation, so their punishment was less severe than the soccer team's punishment.
The exact terms and specific details of probation have not been released yet, but cross country team captain Brandon Price told the Harvard Crimson the probation shouldn't interfere with the team's season:
"The probation and training, it means that they're going to keep a close watch on us and have us go through some training seminars with some Title IX coordinators, and also talk with an outside consultant about just working on our team culture."
The Crimson published texts from the cross country team's GroupMe in a Nov. 6 article. There were also different spreadsheets from each season, and the 2016 version was far less demeaning than the 2012 and 2014 versions. Price and the team decided to release the spreadsheet to The Crimson before it was uncovered by someone else.
Harvard athletic director Robert Scalise said in an email the team and students showed accountability by releasing the information on their own.
"We believe the accountability shown by these students, their taking responsibility for past actions and bringing them to our attention, positively contributes to Harvard Athletics' ability to learn, assess, and improve our culture," said Scalise.
A similar instance occurred with the Columbia men's soccer team in November. This was the first time Harvard has ever placed a team on athletic probation.
(h/t Deadspin)
