Aaron Leibowitz

The men’s crew Spring Fling shirt scandal may have appeared to come to an end on May 3, when University President Anthony Monaco overturned the rowers’ suspensions to allow them to compete in the New England Championships two days later.

Not so fast.

The team’s season ended this past weekend at the ECAC Championships, and now, two conflicting stories — the administration’s and the rowers’ — have emerged.

The rowers had been suspended from New Englands by their coaches after wearing matching shirts to Spring Fling on April 28 that read “Check out our cox,” a pun on the crew term “coxswain,” above an image of four rowers and a coxswain in a boat. After Spring Fling, an anonymous bias incident report was filed by a student, who claimed — according to members of the team who heard the report from their coaches — that the shirts were offensive toward women and promoted a culture of rape and sexual aggression.

In Monaco’s letter overturning the suspension, he did not mention the bias incident, but rather suggested the rowers had been suspended because “the large majority of the team had broken team policy and disobeyed explicit instructions by Coach [Jay] Britt by producing, purchasing, and wearing as a group unauthorized tee-shirts at Spring Fling.”

“I share the coaches’ concern for the importance of adherence to team policy, which was clearly violated,” Monaco wrote, explaining that he had decided to overturn the suspension because of “the university’s commitment to an environment that supports free expression.”

However, according to senior Chris Park — one of four members of the men’s varsity and novice crews to have his captaincy taken away in response to the incident — and classmate All-NESCAC rower Michael Bai, the team was never told about any policy regarding the making, approval or wearing of shirts to Spring Fling.

“I was never made aware of an official authorization process in the crew program regarding the design, production, and use of shirts for events such as Spring Fling,” Bai said. “We know of our obligation to represent our team and Tufts University with pride, and we are very careful to abide by these guidelines, but the use of shirts for an event like Spring Fling does not conflict with that obligation.”

“If there is anything that comes to my mind, it’s the ‘policy’ — or rather, a verbally communicated custom — that whenever we are making uniforms or team gear with the Tufts crest, logo, or Tufts name, that we have it approved by the coaches,” Park said. “This was clearly not the case with the Spring Fling shirts. Not only was there no explicit mentioning of Tufts on the actual shirts, but also it wasn’t worn at a rowing-related event. Therefore, it is clearly and technically not within the purview of the ‘policy’ — if one existed pertaining to situations like this in the first place — and clearly within the guarantee of free speech whether or not we are a member of a public or a private institution.”

Park noted that, while the rowers did receive an email from their coaches that addressed Spring Fling, the coaches never mentioned anything about shirts, as President Monaco’s letter suggested.

“Coaches did tell us a few days before the Spring Fling something along the lines of, ‘Remember that we represent Tufts wherever we go, so be smart at Spring Fling,’ and I don’t disagree with that. I don’t think any of us do,” Park said. “It’s just that through Monaco’s letter, they’ve specifically indicted each and every one of us with a technicality, of an official policy violation, which I wholeheartedly refute.” More =>>

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In a letter to the men’s crew team posted on the Office of the President website, University President Anthony Monaco announced that, upon his request, the team is no longer suspended and will be allowed to compete in this weekend’s New England Rowing Championships. Monaco shared the letter on his Facebook page just after 5:30 pm Thursday evening.

As the Daily originally reported, the team was suspended earlier this week in response to shirts they wore at Spring Fling on April 28, which had  “look at our cox” printed on them as well as an image of four rowers and a coxswain in a boat. In his letter, Monaco states that “the large majority of the team had broken team policy and disobeyed explicit instructions by Coach [Jay] Britt by producing, purchasing, and wearing as a group unauthorized tee-shirts last Saturday.”

The suspension also may have been in response to a bias incident report which, according to several people who saw the report and wished to remain anonymous, stated that the shirts were offensive toward women and promoted a culture of rape and sexual aggression. The report was filed anonymously and has not yet been made public on the Tufts Webcenter.

In his letter, Monaco said he reviewed the matter “with the coaches, Athletics Director Bill Gehling, and the deans” before requesting that they overturn the suspension. Monaco explained that, although team policy was violated, “we must balance the internal question of team discipline with the university’s commitment to an environment that supports free expression.” Monaco also offered his support to the coaches — who, according to Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman, were responsible for suspending the rowers — saying he knows the coaches support free speech and that they acted “not in a spirit of censorship but in the interests of team-building,” but that “the issues…have become inextricably intertwined in this case.”

The letter did not address the status of the team’s four ex-captains — two from the varsity squad and two from the novice squad — who were asked to surrender their captain positions in light of the recent incident.

Now that the team has been reinstated, it will compete in the New England Championships on Saturday at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass. at 8 a.m.

See the full text of President Monaco’s letter below. More =>>

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Read the latest post about President Monaco’s decision to overturn the suspension here: http://blogs.tuftsdaily.com/?p=5034

POST UPDATED THURSDAY AT 5:40 PM: In a letter to the men’s crew team posted on the website of the Office of the President, University President Anthony Monaco has announced that the team’s suspension has been overturned, and that the team will be allowed to compete in this weekend’s New England Championships. Read President Monaco’s letter here: http://president.tufts.edu/2012/05/letter-to-mens-crew-team/

POST UPDATED THURSDAY AT 11:28 AM: According to several people who heard or saw the text of the bias incident report that was filed, and wished to remain anonymous, the report stated that the shirts were offensive toward women and promoted a culture of rape and sexual aggression. Bias reports are generally made public on the Tufts Webcenter, but the most recent incident currently posted on the Webcenter occurred on March 31; Spring Fling was on April 28.

POST UPDATED THURSDAY AT 1:47 AM: According to Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman, the recent suspension of members of the men’s crew team in response to their Spring Fling shirts was a decision made by the team’s coaches, not by the university. It was not a university judicial action or an action taken by the Dean of Student Affairs Office, Reitman said, and thus it will only affect the rowers’ participation in this weekend’s New England Championships, not their university standing. However, the Daily has confirmed that a bias incident was filed, and is still investigating whether the university played any role in influencing the decision to suspend the rowers.

ORIGINAL POST: Wearing matching, custom-made shirts to Spring Fling with your friends is all fun and games — that is, until someone gets offended. The men’s crew team has learned that the hard way.

Image originally from barstoolsports.com

After a student anonymously reported the team’s Spring Fling shirts as a bias incident to the Dean of Student Affairs Office, the rowers involved were suspended for this weekend’s New England Championships, the Daily has learned. Neither the novice nor the varsity squad will have enough eligible rowers to fill a boat, and therefore neither team will compete this weekend. In addition, both teams’ co-captains — two varsity, two novice — were asked to surrender their captain positions. The rowers’ suspensions will be lifted before next weekend’s ECAC Championships, the last scheduled competition of the season.

The tank tops in question have the phrase “check out our cox” written across the middle, a reference to the “coxswain” (pronounced coxun) in crew who sits at the front of the boat and gives instructions to the other rowers. Below the words is an image depicting four rowers in a boat and a coxswain in front of them who appears to be shouting directions.

Tufts Director of Rowing Gary Caldwell declined to comment on the situation, other than to say that “it’s an internal team issue.” The members of the team have written individual letters of apology, which they gave to Caldwell to pass along to the Dean of Student Affairs Office.

On Tuesday, the popular website Barstool Sports: Boston posted an anonymous reader email about the incident, which states, among other things, that “some feminist reported [the rowers].” However, the incident was reported anonymously. The email also states that “the dean said the picture was too phallic and promoted aggression and rape,” though it does not specify which dean is being referred to.

The Daily is still attempting to reach the Dean of Student Affairs Office for further comment. This post will be updated if and when more information becomes known.

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