Princeton officials are putting the men’s swimming and diving season on hold over offensive messages linked to the team.
An anonymous complaint earlier this week alerted school officials to vulgar, misogynistic and racist content on the team’s listserv, university spokesman John Cramer said Friday.
“The behavior that we have learned about is simply unacceptable. It is antithetical to the values of our athletic program and of the University, and will not be tolerated,” Princeton Athletics Director Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in a statement released by the school.
Christopher Eisgruber, the university’s president, said in a statement that he was “deeply disappointed” by the swimmers’ behavior, adding that the team had failed to respect their fellow students.
The team’s coach declined to comment, referring questions to a university spokesman.
The suspension means the team is prohibited from practicing and competing until the school completes an administrative review, Cramer said.
There are two meets left in the team’s season.
“In the coming days, we will make a determination about the status of the team’s remaining schedule and we also will work collaboratively to determine additional actions aimed at education and positive culture building for the team,” Samaan said.
The suspension marks the third time in less than two months that an Ivy League school’s team has come under fire for alleged sexist and racist behavior.
Harvard canceled the remainder of its men’s soccer season last month after finding that team members had a years-long tradition of lewdly ranking women’s soccer players.
And Columbia University suspended members of its wrestling team last month after a school investigation found they had sent lewd and racist group messages and texts.
