Washington University Suspends Men’s Soccer Team for ‘Sexually Explicit’ Comments

Washington University on Friday suspended the men’s soccer team for comments about the women’s team that were “degrading and sexually explicit.”

The university said the comments—which were reported by members of the women’s team on Wednesday—were made in an online document from 2015, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The university is the latest in a series of schools to suspend athletic teams over lewd or offensive comments, often about female students or other female athletes. Princeton, Harvard, Columbia and Amherst have all recently suspended athletic teams over similar incidents.

Washington University leaders, who said the suspension was a preliminary punishment, denounced the nature of the reported comments.

“Let me be clear: There is absolutely no place at Washington University for sexism, discrimination or harassment of any kind,” Lori White, vice chancellor for student affairs, said in a statement, reported by the Post-Dispatch. “This alleged behavior flies in the face of the university’s core values of community support, diversity and inclusion, and we are firmly committed to conducting a timely and thorough investigation to address this matter.”