Harvard cancels men's soccer season over lewd 'scouting reports'

Harvard University's athletic director on Thursday canceled the remainder of the men's soccer team's season after it came to light that an inappropriate "scouting report" about female soccer players created by the men's team in 2012 had continued into this semester.

Last week, student newspaper The Harvard Crimson reported that the "scouting report" of freshmen women was first posted online on July 31, 2012, and until recently was public on Google Groups. The women were ranked by number, with photos attached and descriptions of their assumed sexual behavior, The Boston Globe reports. Harvard President Drew Faust said officials were "deeply distressed" to learn that the sexually explicit report was still updated, and athletic director Robert Scalise said Harvard athletics has "zero tolerance for this type of behavior."

The men's team had a game against Columbia scheduled for Saturday, and would have been playing for a share of the Ivy League championship and an NCAA tournament berth. Scalise said the athletics department will work with Harvard's Office of Sexual Assault and Response to "further educate the members of our men's soccer team, and all of our student athletes, about the seriousness of these behaviors and the general standard of respect and conduct that is expected."

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