U.S. Department of Justice Finds UMBC Did Not Protect Swimmers from Abuse
The United States Department of Justice on Monday released findings of a three-year investigation into the University of Maryland, Baltimore County that found it did not uphold its Title IX obligations to shield members of its swimming and diving team from abuse.
The DOJ found systemic failures in trying to stop abuses by coach former coach Chad Cradock. The University has responded to the finding with a letter of apology to its students.
From the DOJ finding:
The Department determined that the University did not comply with its Title IX obligations in its response to known allegations of sex discrimination in its Athletics Department. In particular, our investigation revealed that the University failed to sufficiently oversee its Athletics Department and did not devote adequate resources to its Title IX compliance efforts, which enabled the Head Coach to engage in sex-based harassment, including unwanted sexual touching of male student-athletes, as well as sex discrimination against female student-athletes, on an ongoing basis for years. From approximately 2015 to 2020, the University was on notice of allegations that these student-athletes had been subjected to a hostile environment based on sex but failed to address it adequately. As a result, many student-athletes were subjected to sex discrimination, including unwanted sexual touching and other sexual harassment, which they understood to be a condition for participating in University athletics. Although the Head Coach was placed on leave in October 2020, and later died in March 2021, the findings described in this letter show University-wide failures well beyond the conduct of this coach that left student-athletes vulnerable to ongoing sexual harassment. As a result, the Department has concluded that the University must take affirmative steps to remedy these failures and come into compliance with Title IX.”
The DOJ reviewed nearly 200,000 pages of interviews into the matter and interviewed 70 people, including students, staff and administrators.
A letter to the community by president Valerie Sheares Ashby on Monday called the finding, “deeply troubling,” and pledged to, “commit ourselves not only to addressing the failures, but also to rebuilding our community’s trust.” Later in the week, the school announced it would set aside $4.14 million to cover litigation brought by victims of Cradock.
From the Sheares Ashby’s letter:
To the students who were harmed: I am profoundly sorry. I am grateful for the courage and strength of those who spoke up and took action, and I am committed to ensuring that such failures never happen again. UMBC let you down, and we let our community down. We did not live up to our values, and that is inexcusable.
Swimmers sued UMBC in the fall of 2022, contending that the university had mishandled claims of abuse by Cradock. The suit was extended to include the Title IX challenge in 2023. The abuse stretched back to 2015 by Cradock, into whom an investigation began in 2020. Cradock resigned in December 2020 and committed suicide three months later. The Department of Justice’s investigation began in November 2020, a month after Cradock was placed on leave. A larger suit into UMBC athletics’ failures to handle sexual assault claims by female athletes was filed in 2018.
The investigation cites a long-standing relationship between Cradock and UMBC, as alumnus lauded for his community connections, especially regarding fundraising, as “Mr. UMBC.” “With this reputation, the Head Coach enjoyed deference despite behaviors that should have prompted the University to scrutinize the environment he created for student-athletes,” the DOJ found. Those activities included inviting students to his home for sleepovers, meals and haircuts, and employing and then allowing a student-athlete to live in his home. Cradock’s control over non-athletic factors like “scholarships, housing and academics” allowed him to overstep boundaries without being checked by the administration.
The DOJ described the atmosphere for male swimmers as “sexually hostile,” with “numerous male student-athletes … subjected to sexual abuse and assault.” The coach did nothing to stop sexual harassment of female athletes by their male counterparts, did not follow procedures when sexual assault and dating violence was reported by female athletes, created a “hyper-sexualized environment” with comments about female athletes’ bodies and encouraged romantic relationship between male and female swimmers.
The DOJ praised UMBC for its cooperation, and Sheares Ashby has promised a commitment to rectifying the failures. She highlighted actions taken upon becoming president in Aug. 2022 to increase staffing, review policies and “reset the Athletic Department’s structure, governance, and reporting mechanisms, starting with making the athletic director a direct report to me.”
From the letter:
The failures between 2015 and 2020 identified by the DOJ were the collective responsibility of many individuals. Those who were identified as failing to comply with their Title IX obligations—whether through action or inaction—will be held accountable.
This is a painful moment for UMBC, but I am inspired by all of you and privileged to be in service to this beloved community. Every day, I am awed by students, faculty, and staff who show up every day to work together, learn, and support one another to do more and to achieve great things. You have remained true to our mission, and you live our core values of inclusive excellence, collaboration, innovation, and impact. I am grateful to each one of you for continuing to make UMBC exceptional. We are all better for it.
Now, it is our turn to show up for you.