March 13, 2016: People walk near Memorial Church on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
Harvard University announced Thursday that it would forgo the remainder of its men's soccer season after the school's lawyers found several "scouting reports" prepared by team members that assessed members of the women's team based on their physical appearance.
The Ivy League school's newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, reported last week that members of the 2012 team created a document rating each of that year's women's soccer recruits on a numerical scale and assigning them a sexual position.
HARVARD COMDEMNS LEWD 'SCOUTING REPORT' BY 2012 MEN'S SOCCER TEAM
The Crimson reported Thursday that Athletic Director Bob Scalise wrote in an email to student athletes that the "practice appears to be more widespread across the team and has continued beyond 2012, including in 2016."
Harvard will forfeit its final two games of the 2016 regular season and will not compete in any postseason tournaments. The team had a record of 10-3-2, while going 4-0-1 in Ivy League play.
"I was deeply distressed to learn that the appalling actions of the 2012 men’s soccer team were not isolated to one year or the actions of a few individuals," Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust said in a statement.
Faust added that she supported the decision to cancel the team's season, saying that "the team’s behavior and the failure to be forthcoming when initially questioned are completely unacceptable, have no place at Harvard, and run counter to the mutual respect that is a core value of our community."
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
