SIAP: Columbia University suspends wrestling team

[Lion8286]

Columbia University has suspended its wrestling team from competing while it investigates apparent lewd text messages sent by several of its team members.

“The Department of Athletics has decided that Columbia wrestlers will not compete until we have a full understanding of the facts on which to base the official response to this disturbing matter,” Columbia said in a statement.

The school said it launched an investigation as soon as it learned of the messages it described as “appalling, at odds with the core values of the university, and violate team guidelines.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...wrestling-team-suspended-lewd-texts/93878162/

 

[El-Jefe]

Carlos Danger got a scholarship?

 

[greenmanRD]

Surely they should suspend the team members who are being investigated and not the whole team?

 

[PSU-Knocker]

Surely they should suspend the team members who are being investigated and not the whole team?

Naw, the problem with you is you're damn logical.

 

[Azchief32]

Surely they should suspend the team members who are being investigated and not the whole team?

SOMEone needs to attend the Snowflake Reeducation Camp

 

[johnstownsteel]

So to the University, the comments made by its athletes were both appalling and at odds with its core values. Let me tell you what I think is appalling.... a University hiring a convicted cop killer and someone with direct ties to the Weather Underground, the radical leftist group responsible for bombing the Pentagon, the Capital, Department of State building and many many many other buildings.

When Columbia University decided to hire Kathy Boudin as a professor, they should have forfeited their right to have an opinion on what's offensive, lewd or what's at odds with core values including their own. Those police officers have family that will never see their loved ones again and then had to sit and watch some University hire their killer to teach our young people about social issues. Their statement regarding the wrestling team definitely needs to filed in the "you can't make this sh!& up" binder.

 

[James P. Whitters III]

So to the University, the comments made by its athletes were both appalling and at odds with its core values. Let me tell you what I think is appalling.... a University hiring a convicted cop killer and someone with direct ties to the Weather Underground, the radical leftist group responsible for bombing the Pentagon, the Capital, Department of State building and many many many other buildings.

When Columbia University decided to hire Kathy Boudin as a professor, they should have forfeited their right to have an opinion on what's offensive, lewd or what's at odds with core values including their own. Those police officers have family that will never see their loved ones again and then had to sit and watch some University hire their killer to teach our young people about social issues. Their statement regarding the wrestling team definitely needs to filed in the "you can't make this sh!& up" binder.

I will vote for you. Full court press on you running for office!

 

[Chickenman Testa]

So to the University, the comments made by its athletes were both appalling and at odds with its core values. Let me tell you what I think is appalling.... a University hiring a convicted cop killer and someone with direct ties to the Weather Underground, the radical leftist group responsible for bombing the Pentagon, the Capital, Department of State building and many many many other buildings.

When Columbia University decided to hire Kathy Boudin as a professor, they should have forfeited their right to have an opinion on what's offensive, lewd or what's at odds with core values including their own. Those police officers have family that will never see their loved ones again and then had to sit and watch some University hire their killer to teach our young people about social issues. Their statement regarding the wrestling team definitely needs to filed in the "you can't make this sh!& up" binder.

Classic "radical chic" irony.

Princeton has an "ethics" professor who advocates euthanizing infants with special needs - Peter Singer. Hey, no big deal, but don't dare grab a girl's ass at a frat party. That's grounds for near expulsion

 

[AgSurfer]

What isn't clear to me from the information provided is how the University learned about the texts. If they were just private communications between the wrestlers that inadvertently became known to the University, I don't think it's any of their business regardless of what was texted. This episode sounds like another example of PC extremism.

 

[El-Jefe]

Privacy issues aside, the only reason to suspend the entire team is if the school wanted the other wrestlers to condemn those posts in that forum and/or publicly, instead of shrugging it off or dealing with it privately.

The Stasi would be proud of that approach.

If I were the team and the coaches, I would already be lawyered up. This case screams Duke Lacrosse, and the team is about to get Nifonged.

 

[El-Jefe]

Classic "radical chic" irony.

Princeton has an "ethics" professor who advocates euthanizing infants with special needs - Peter Singer. Hey, no big deal, but don't dare grab a girl's ass at a frat party. That's grounds for near expulsion

This understates the evil that is Singer. He advocated that such children are a burden to society. It's a very slippery slope to take that decision away from the parents, and another to expand the definition of "special needs" for such purposes.

Since I'm all for free speech, Singer should have peddled his tin-pot ideas on a street corner next to the obnoxious squeegee guy instead of at a premier academic institution.

 

[AFHawk86]

What isn't clear to me from the information provided is how the University learned about the texts. If they were just private communications between the wrestlers that inadvertently became known to the University, I don't think it's any of their business regardless of what was texted. This episode sounds like another example of PC extremism.

I have the same question...where was the information being shared and how did the University become involved?

 

[Chickenman Testa]

This understates the evil that is Singer. He advocated that such children are a burden to society. It's a very slippery slope to take that decision away from the parents, and another to expand the definition of "special needs" for such purposes.

Since I'm all for free speech, Singer should have peddled his tin-pot ideas on a street corner next to the obnoxious squeegee guy instead of at a premier academic institution.

My father battled that nut case for decades - often almost alone as many research scientists cowered in fear of PETA and other animal rights fanatics like Singer. Singer is sociopathy dressed up in academic garb.

 

[El-Jefe]

My father battled that nut case for decades - often almost alone as many research scientists cowered in fear of PETA and other animal rights fanatics like Singer. Singer is sociopathy dressed up in academic garb.

I've had to inform the family bioethicist (yes, I'm related to one, and he knows my medical history), as he extolled Singer, that I would not have survived past age 2 had Singer's philosophy been implemented.

THAT was an awkward dinner.

 

[Chickenman Testa]

I've had to inform the family bioethicist (yes, I'm related to one, and he knows my medical history), as he extolled Singer, that I would not have survived past age 2 had Singer's philosophy been implemented.

THAT was an awkward dinner.

Now we're playing hardball!!!! Nice.

 

[Azchief32]

Also, these posts were from 2014. I know that the statue of limitations for some crimes are around three years in some states.

 

[SJP80]

The messages were screen captured by a third person off of one of the wrestlers accounts. The actual screen captures with the actual quotes were posted on a university blog site.

The message group was just the 2017 (current) seniors that had this group chat for a few years. Current FR, SO, JR were not in the chat.

 

[CropDuster507]

I don't condone anything that was said, but I feel like this opens up a can of worms. Where's the privacy line?

 

[psuwrestl]

You guys are right , way too PC.

 

[NittanyLion84]

You guys are right , way to PC. Maybe all those offended could head on over to Cornell I hear they are having a cry-in and free hot chocolate for the never Trumpers or shoot on out to U of Kansas where the masses are having service dogs come in to sooth their troubled souls , same reason.

I have a grevance, I believe our generation was cheated, we were never given the opportunity to be a snowflake.

 

[psuwrestl]

How true NL84 I'd look like the worlds greatest athlete had I been given trophy's and ribbons for not winning.

 

[CropDuster507]

How true NL84 I'd look like the worlds greatest athlete had I been given trophy's and ribbons for not winning.

Try being the in-between point, where you're given those trophies, but it feels more like a slap in the face than an award.

 

[NittanyLion84]

How true NL84 I'd look like the worlds greatest athlete had I been given trophy's and ribbons for not winning.

Hey, I'd be right there with you. If being present was all that was required, I might have won multiple MVP's, might have been selected to run the athletic department of my local high school. The possibilities are almost endless. Seriously, how did we get to this place?

 

[Tom McAndrew]

A few things.

First, I wish folks would stop leaping to conclusions in this thread. Not all of the messages sent on the team's group chat have been made public. As such, nobody really knows what has been discovered, and what caused Columbia to take the actions that they did.

Second, no members of the wrestling team have been suspended at this time. The university suspended the team's season, until it completes its investigation of the messages that were sent amongst the team members.

Third, I would hope that Penn State alums and fans, after what PSU has been through over the past 5 years, would be sensitive to the fact that it's dangerous to leap to conclusions, especially when only portions of the story are in the public sphere.

Fourth, for some strange reason, several of you have chosen to post replies that included comments about the recent political election. I've deleted some posts as a result, and edited others. Just a reminder to keep political comments off this board.

 

[ev_flores0331]

A few things.

First, I wish folks would stop leaping to conclusions in this thread. Not all of the messages sent on the team's group chat have been made public. As such, nobody really knows what has been discovered, and what caused Columbia to take the actions that they did.

Second, no members of the wrestling team have been suspended at this time. The university suspended the team's season, until it completes its investigation of the messages that were sent amongst the team members.

Third, I would hope that Penn State alums and fans, after what PSU has been through over the past 5 years, would be sensitive to the fact that it's dangerous to leap to conclusions, especially when only portions of the story are in the public sphere.

Fourth, for some strange reason, several of you have chosen to post replies that included comments about the recent political election. I've deleted some posts as a result, and edited others. Just a reminder to keep political comments off this board.

Dude, you should just delete this entire thread then. It reads like an open invitation to complain about political correctness.

 

[Dogwelder]

I was dreading what Foley would say about all this. I was right to worry. Reading this much irony might be dangerous:

"Wrestling is a sport of big men and bigger egos, yet we are immobilized by cowardice. Leaders in our sport are either too afraid to call out their colleagues, feeling the same way themselves, or fearful of missing out on a buck. We've become comfy in tweeting out banalities and shouting down those who think that the sport should make progressive changes, instead of advocating for real change. To me the behavior has always been wimpish, but now increasingly it seems contagious."

 

[shak66_psu]

[note: this post contains some speculation], but my sources tell me the Columbia incident is similar to the Harvard men's soccer team episode... some sort of commenting/ranking of some of the Columbia's women's teams - not sure which - as an aside, my sources also tell me that women's groups/other women's sports teams at Columbia were 'lying on the ground' in places where many of the men's teams had to 'step over them' to get back to their respective locker rooms or to their practice rooms/courts.. good grief.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Columbia has completed their investigation. From the University's statement:

"Those responsible for the offensive statements in the group chat have lost the privilege to represent Columbia University in intercollegiate athletics competition and have been immediately suspended from the wrestling squad through the rest of the season and 2016-17 academic year. Other individuals have been suspended until the beginning of the spring 2017 semester."

additionally

"Moving forward, members of the wrestling team who were found to be uninvolved in the offensive group messages are cleared for competition and will be able to wrestle at this weekend's New York State Championships in Ithaca, N.Y."

You can read the University's statement on Flo, at THIS LINK.

 

[Dogwelder]

It took a while for me to decipher that "Other individuals have been suspended until" must mean that there were "Other individuals" who were not "responsible for the offensive statements" but who must have done something else wrong to deserve punishment. I mention it in case it helps other slow thinkers.