UT Women’s Soccer Tradition Raises Hazing Questions

Read the original article on The Minaret, with photos.

Two weeks before graduation, teammates dressed five out of the six University of Tampa women’s soccer freshmen in bright, colorful clothes and covered them in make-up, fingernail polish and marker.

Pictures from the party in an off-campus apartment showed the five freshmen women in Halloween-style makeup with fingernail polish around their eyes. At least two had hair painted on their chests and arms, and Haley LeMond wore a shirt that read “Property of Stack,” an older teammate.

The women remained in their new attire when the team went to The Hut, a local 18-and-up nightclub that is popular with UT students.

The event, known as “Freshmen Fun Night,” reportedly has been going on for years. As the pictures depict the senior members of the team dressed normally, questions about hazing arose.

UT’s regulations state, “Hazing includes, but is not limited to … forced consumption of any food, liquor, drug, or other substance, or other forced physical activity that could adversely affect the physical health or safety of the student and also includes any activity that would subject the student to extreme mental stress, such as sleep deprivation, forced exclusion from social contact, forced conduct that could result in extreme embarrassment, or other forced activity that could adversely affect the mental health or dignity of the student.”

The NCAA has a slightly more detailed definition, including, “any activity expected of someone joining a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses or endangers, regardless of the person’s willingness to participate. This does not include activities such as rookies carrying the balls, team parties with community games, or going out with your teammates, unless an atmosphere of humiliation, degradation, abuse or danger arises.”

Taking the players out to The Hut while still dressed up in such a fashion could appear to violate NCAA policy, but one freshman denied that the behavior was insulting or derogatory.

“I don’t see that [the activities of Freshmen Fun Night] as demeaning to my character at all,” she said, wishing to remain anonymous. “I would do it again, and I want to do it again.”

Athletic Director Larry Marfise said the department investigated the event.

“We looked into it, and found nothing wrong,” he said. “It was not an initiation. It was only freshmen because only the freshmen chose to participate.”

Marfise went on to say that the athletic department follows their own set of hazing regulations, which are different that UT’s general campus policy. He was unwilling to give The Minaret a copy of these rules, however, claiming that only those inside the athletic department, including student-athletes, have access to them.

Team captain Alicia Wyman thought the event was harmless.

“No one is any higher or lower than anyone else,” said Wyman, one of the veterans participating in the event. “Everyone was in there together, and everyone was watching out for each other.”

Freshman Amy Triano recalled a story last semester when she and a teammate had dressed up similarly to Saturday’s outfit for fun.

“I do it all the time, but no one is there to do it with me,” Triano said.

However, even if the activities were not fully forced, according to Tampa’s Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook, “Apathy or acquiescence in the presence of hazing is not a neutral act; it is a violation of this article.”

Even if all the girls consented to the events of freshmen fun night, the act could still be considered hazing at UT.

The Rights and Responsibilities also state, “Any activity . . . upon which the initiation or admission into or affiliation with a university organization is directly or indirectly conditioned shall be presumed to be ‘forced’ activity, the willingness of an individual to participate in such activity notwithstanding.”

Head coach Gerry Lucey said he heard about some of the night.

“It was not a team event,” he said. “There is nothing to suggest that anything wrong took place.”

His players agreed.

“It was definitely not a team event,” said one of the players. “Our entire team was not there. Anyone who wanted to go went. It was not mandatory.”

Facebook pictures showed empty beer bottles on tables along with what appeared to be a bottle of Malibu Coconut Rum. All of the players vehemently denied that any alcohol was consumed at the event, however.

While at least a dozen women’s soccer players were involved, pictures show that some of those involved Saturday were women athletes from other sports. Some were not affiliated with any Tampa sports at all. Thus, the night was not affiliated specifically with women’s soccer, players said.

Though freshmen Megan Tobin was sick with food poisoning, all of the other freshmen were dressed up for the event. It also appears that only freshmen wore the outfits, but team members say the event wasn’t a hazing ritual.

“There’s no initiation if you’re already in the group,” Wyman said.

Admission to the team follows the same standard. Christy O’Connor was on the team as a freshman and left the squad at the start of spring semester.

“I knew that there was a night we all got together and dressed up silly,” O’Connor said. “It wasn’t a scare tactic at all.”

She said the idea of such a night had no influence in her decision to leave the team. If O’Connor were to rejoin in the fall, she would need only to meet the physical requirements and not undergo any tasks performed on Freshmen Fun Night, she said.

The Facebook pictures have been taken down since they were first posted.