Cornell University Suspends Entire Lacrosse Team After Hazing Allegations
From the archive: published Sep 19, 2013, 13 years ago. Details may have changed since.
Cornell University has temporarily suspended its entire lacrosse team after allegations of hazing.
The alleged hazing happened on September 13 and involved “coerced consumption of alcohol by underage freshmen.” More details will be revealed in the coming days.
Cornell lacrosse finished last season 14-4. They made it to NCAA semifinals but lost to Duke, who would go on to win the championship.
The university’s Athletics Director, Andy Noel, released the following statement Thursday:
“On Sept. 13, the Cornell men’s lacrosse team was placed on temporary suspension pending appropriate sanctions for a team hazing incident. Following investigation into the incident, Coach (Ben) DeLuca and his team were notified that all fall competitions are canceled. Effective today, the team will resume training and practice in accordance with sanction guidelines.”
Cornell University had a schedule exhibition game against the Iroquois National Team on September 28 in Cortland, New York. They were also scheduled to play in the second annual Capital Lacrosse Invitational in Bethesda, Maryland in October.
The Capital Lacrosse invitational promotes and supports the Mario St. George Boiardi Foundation. It’s named in honor of former Cornell lacrosse captain George Boiardi. Boiardi was accidentally killed in 2004 after being struck in the chest by a lacrosse ball. Other schools still scheduled to participate in the tournament are Lehigh, Bucknell, and Penn State.
It’s not often an entire college sports team gets suspended. It’s devastating for the university and embarrassing for the player. Cornell clearly takes the hazing allegations very seriously if this is the action being taken.
In another statement, Noel promised the school would “work with this team intensely in the next days, weeks and months to educate them on the problematic actions and to help them identify appropriate, healthy, activities in which they can bond. We need our upperclassmen to model the high level of behavior we demand from our student-athletes at Cornell.”
Do you think the entire Cornell lacrosse team should have been suspended for hazing?