Maryland University Failed To Protect Students From Abusive Swim Coach, Violating Title IX, Feds Say – News18

BALTIMORE: The University of Maryland, Baltimore County violated federal laws by failing to guard college students from sexual harassment and discrimination by the hands of the varsity’s former head swim coach, a U.S. Department of Justice investigation discovered.

The outcomes of the investigation, which started in 2020, had been launched Monday. Justice Department investigators discovered the college did not adjust to Title IX, the federal regulation that prohibits gender-primarily based discrimination in schooling.

Swimmers had been subjected to a “hypersexualized environment where their coach — on a daily basis, in plain sight, and typically when they wore only speedos — subjected male student-athletes to unwanted sexual touching, inappropriate sexual comments, and other sexual misconduct,” investigators discovered.

The coach, Chad Cradock, had overseen the college’s Division I swimming and diving program for practically 20 years earlier than he was positioned on depart in October 2020 pending the federal investigation. He died by suicide in March 2021 after receiving an amended discover of the allegations towards him, in line with the Justice Department report.

In a letter to the college neighborhood Monday, President Valerie Sheares Ashby referred to as the investigation’s findings “deeply troubling.”

“We take full responsibility for what happened, and we commit ourselves not only to addressing the failures, but also to rebuilding our community’s trust,” she wrote.

She additionally mentioned college leaders will quickly signal an settlement with the Department of Justice detailing “critical changes in the way the university responds to reports of sexual misconduct and discrimination.”

Located within the suburbs of Baltimore, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County has a scholar inhabitants of about 14,000. Title IX applies to instructional establishments and applications that obtain federal funding.

Despite apparent indicators and reviews of Cradock’s abusive habits, college leaders turned a blind eye and allowed it to proceed for years, federal investigators discovered. They mentioned Craddock took benefit of his stature inside the college neighborhood and preyed on weak college students, controlling practically all facets of their school expertise.

Meanwhile, feminine swimmers skilled a distinct sort of hostile setting, together with sexual harassment from their male counterparts, degrading feedback about their our bodies and invasive questions on their intercourse lives, the investigation discovered. Craddock, who oversaw each groups, favored the boys whereas encouraging romantic relationships between female and male swimmers.

“Too many school officials and administrators knew something for UMBC to have done nothing,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division mentioned in a press release Monday.

Six former school swimmers sued the college in federal court docket final yr alleging Title IX violations in a case that continues to be ongoing.

(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)