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The Ivy League institution canceled men's soccer for the entire season after learning of a document rating female players and assigning them sexual positions.
In a strong move of condemnation, Harvard University announced Thursday it would cancel the remaining games in the men's soccer season after learning of a document in which the players rated female soccer players, assigning them sexual positions and lewdly discussing their physical attributes, according to the Harvard Crimson.
"The team will forfeit its remaining games and will decline any opportunity to achieve an Ivy League championship or to participate in the NCAA Tournament this year," athletics director Robert L. Scalise wrote in an email to Harvard student athletes obtained by the paper.
In a world in which a presidential candidate has been recorded suggesting the best way to pick up women is to grab them by their genitalia, the move by the university seems unprecedented.
"The decision to cancel a season is serious and consequential, and reflects Harvard's view that both the team's behavior and the failure to be forthcoming when initially questioned are completely unacceptable," university president Drew G. Faust told the paper in a statement. He said the team's actions "have no place at Harvard, and run counter to the mutual respect that is a core value of our community," according to the paper.
Harvard University is known to be among the most competitive universities in the United States, accepting just over 5 percent of applicants. Admitted students often have near-perfect grades and test scores, excel in extracurricular activities, and are thought to represent the finest young minds in the entire country. Sexist bullying is clearly not a matter of education.
In a Crimson op-ed penned by several of the female soccer players who were rated sexually, the women wrote initially of not being surprised at the lewd document. "The sad reality is that we have come to expect this kind of behavior from so many men, that it is so 'normal' to us we often decide it is not worth our time or effort to dwell on," they wrote. "We feel hopeless because men who are supposed to be our brothers degrade us like this." Their feelings echoed Michelle Obama's sentiments as she spoke recently of remarks made by Donald Trump,
The women saw the men's behavior as part of a larger system of sexist attacks, alluding to the comments made by Trump, who, when confronted about his own sexist remarks called them "locker room talk." "Locker room talk" is not an excuse," the women wrote, "because this is not limited to athletic teams. The whole world is the locker room."
To the men who continue to objectify them, the female players asserted power over their own bodies. "I can offer you my forgiveness, which is -- and forever will be -- the only part of me that you can ever claim as yours," they wrote.
