Members of the Ohio University men’s club soccer team will not face Judiciaries charges for an alleged hazing incident Sept. 8.
Club Sports also will not seek additional charges; the club’s suspension will be lifted as of Monday, said Nick Brigati, interim director of Intramural and Club Sports.
After an unnamed player drank excess amounts of alcohol and ended up at O’Bleness Memorial Hospital with a one-and-a-half-inch laceration on his head, OU Club Sports suspended the team while the university investigated the incident. However, University Judiciaries has decided not to move forward with charges, Dean of Students Ryan Lombardi said.
“Judiciaries has reviewed the situation and decided there was no adequate evidence to proceed with any charges towards the organization,” Lombardi said. “They didn’t find enough evidence to charge the group with anything that was organization-related.
Judiciaries investigated the incident after the initial accusation of hazing to try to determine whether the student’s injury occurred while he was drinking with the group.
The Ohio University Student Code of Conduct states that “coercing another to engage in an act of membership in a student organization that causes or creates a risk of mental or bodily harm to any person (e.g. hazing),” is a Code A Offense.
The final decision regarding repercussions for the team fell to Club Sports after the Judiciaries’ ruling, Lombardi said.
The team is still on probation until the end of the 2012 school year for two other incidents involving failure to meet minimum red tier requirements and failure to maintain current certifications for CPR and first aid, according to a letter to the team from Brigati.
Another act of non-compliance this school year will cause the team to be expelled from Club Sports.
Read the letter from Brigati below.
rm279109@ohiou.edu
