Hazing complaint from Davidson College athlete prompts review of school traditions
Davidson College is reviewing anti-hazing policies and auditing sports team traditions after receiving a complaint from a member of the men’s swimming and diving team.
The complaint alleges freshmen were forced to participate in team activities outside of practices and competition — some of which resulted in injuries — because of tradition. It left the member “traumatized,” according to the complaint provided to The Charlotte Observer. Freshmen were “expected to perform” dances in their Speedos during campus events, including in front of the student section at a home men’s basketball game against Virginia Commonwealth University to distract its players.
Athletics department leaders will decide what action Davidson takes after the review, says Jay Pfeifer, media relations director.
“The health and safety of every Davidson College student is our highest priority, and the college takes hazing allegations very seriously,” Pfeifer said.
Davidson officials are updating student and athletic handbooks with clearer methods for reporting hazing, requiring all athletes and staff to go through annual hazing prevention training and auditing traditions with all teams’ coaches and captains, including those linked to the men’s swimming and diving team, Mak Tompkins, director of student rights and responsibilities, wrote in a message to the player obtained by the Observer.
Tompkins in an email thanked the player for having the “courage to come forward and stick with the process.”
Hazing policy and details
Davidson’s hazing policy follows state law and says the practice is illegal. A violation is a Class 2 misdemeanor, the handbook says.
A section of Davidson’s website on hazing includes a reporting form and defines it as “any activity expected of someone joining or participating in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses, or endangers them, regardless of a person’s willingness to participate.”
The swim team member, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, says they suffered injuries on at least two separate occasions from team activities, including as part of a tradition where “swimmers and divers perform a sexual routine where we strip into nothing but our Speedos and dance.”
The team member said they were disturbed by local TV news coverage of players dancing in swimsuits at a VCU basketball game that went viral online, too, because “I knew deep down we didn’t have a choice.” They were also “threatened and pressured” to take part in a head-shaving event before the A-10 conference championship, according to a complaint submitted to the school.
Pfeifer told the Observer Davidson provided support “to the members of our community who raised the concerns by connecting them with staff and resources from the Center for Student Health and Well-Being.”
A spokesman for the Atlantic 10 Conference said he had no knowledge of any hazing complaints out of Davidson.
