​Running Toward Challenges

Last week, we wrote an editorial about the suspension of the men’s soccer team following the revelation that they created sexually explicit documents that objectified their counterparts on the women’s team. We said in no uncertain terms that these scouting reports are disgusting and have no place at Harvard.

It is even more disappointing, therefore, that we are once again writing about this issue following the news that the men’s cross country team created similarly inappropriate documents.

When we wrote about this issue last week, we called upon the University to investigate other athletic teams in order to determine whether they engaged in similarly disgusting behavior. We are deeply saddened, but not surprised, to find out that another team participated in such blatant misogyny and disregard for their female counterparts.

The news that the men’s cross country team participated in the same behavior reaffirms the fact that the University must continue looking into these matters and pursuing consequences whenever possible and appropriate.

Still, it is important to note that the cross country team situation is different in one important way: In an email obtained by The Crimson, the team’s captain wrote that he had shared a document that “contains sexually explicit content about the girls’ team” with Coach Jason S. Saretsky, and argued that the team should be forthcoming with administrators.

The fact that the team captain sent the document to his coach underscores the influence of the administration’s swift investigation and punishment of the soccer team. These consequences have had an effect in changing the University’s culture, and have encouraged other teams to be come forward, even if only out of self-interest.

That even one team captain shared such a document with a coach is progress. By definition, these documents were all created in secret, without any intent of ever becoming public. The revelation of their existence is thus a positive step toward combatting rape culture on campus.

While sexual harassment and the objectification of women are problems that reach all parts of the University, we now know that it is a particularly widespread problem in the Athletic Department. Each team, coach, and administrator, therefore, should be investigated to determine to what degree they are complicit in furthering this toxic culture.

Administrators, both in the Athletic Department and the University as a whole, must actively work toward rooting out this toxic behavior that plagues our campus.