The Princeton men’s swimming and diving season was officially canceled on Thursday over vulgar and racist content linked to the team.
The team’s coach declined to comment, referring questions to a university spokesman.
The decision came a week after the university announced the season would be suspended pending further investigation into an anonymous complaint last week that alerted school officials to offensive messages on the team’s listserv.
The team will not compete in the final two scheduled regular season meets on January 7 and February 5, nor the Ivy League Championship at the end of February, according to John Cramer Director of Media Relations for Princeton University.
“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 last week.
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 cancellation 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.
