The Colgate men’s swimming and diving team has been suspended for the remainder of the fall 2018 season and their planned winter training for violations of the University’s anti-hazing policies. According to Vice President and Director of Athletics Nicki Moore, an investigation found the team responsible for Colgate University and Department of Athletics code of conduct violations relating to forced high-risk alcohol consumption.

“We partnered with [Dean Paul McLoughlin] after having received a couple of reports and allegations. We conducted an investigation of hazing involving high-risk drinking among members of the men’s varsity swimming team, and in light of other educational efforts, we administered a response which we thought was appropriate,” Moore said.

The suspension prevents the men’s team from participating in any fall competitions or official training trips. The team had ten days of regular season competition on the schedule before their suspension was leveled last week.

Additionally, the team will miss scheduled events including the Terrier Invitational at Boston University and the U.S.A. Winter Swimming National Championships.

Hazing is a recurrent issue among Division 1 college athletics teams in the United States. According to the Associated Press, Dartmouth College opened hazing investigations into three different athletic teams just last week. Last year, the Colgate men’s varsity rowing team was suspended from all fall competition and the first com- petition of the spring season following activities that constituted hazing.

Given the evidently life-threatening risks that hazing poses, Moore considered if there was any way to hamper hazing as a pattern at schools like Colgate.

“If I had a definitive answer, I would be a rich woman,” she said. “The fact of the matter is that we’ve had institutions in this region where students have died

[from these activities]… I asked swimmers about how to prevent this kind of thing from happening again, and they complained of the ineffectiveness of standardized online education.”

Moore explained that in-person education may be a possible solution.

“The best way to combat this moving forward is small-group-based team discussions that confront students with real-life scenarios face-to-face. We’re actually getting ready to partner with an outside group for alcohol education of athletes [offline]. This has better efficacy than cognitive behavioral evaluation,” Moore said.

The men’s swim team came in third place at its last meet, the Justin Jennings Memorial Invitational. The team will resume competition in January 2019 at the Buffalo Diving Invite at the University of Buffalo.

The men’s swimming captain, senior Ryan Mathes, declined to comment on behalf of the team.

Contact Theo Asher at [email protected].