7 students face hearings:
Seven suspended men’s soccer players at the US Merchant Marine Academy will face campus disciplinary hearings over allegations of sexual misconduct, coercion and hazing, according to a federal lawyer in Central Islip, New York.
Assistant US Attorney James H. Knapp said the students were sexually abusive toward a freshman player on the team bus last September, and they squirted water or urine and covered several people with food, Newsday reported Saturday.
The students’ lawyers deny all the allegations. The students sued after being barred from graduating amid a probe by the US Department of Transportation inspector general’s office. The agency oversees the academy, which trains students to work in the maritime industry.
A judge let the players participate in June graduation ceremonies but has withheld their diplomas, for now.
Knapp’s remarks, at a court hearing in the suit, fleshed out the accusations against the students.
Shaun Hogan, a lawyer for five of the students, told Newsday that the allegations “were long on salacious claims and short on detail.” Ron Meister, an attorney for another student, said the students have been unable to get jobs.
“Unfortunately, while the government made the charges public, the (academy’s) hearings will be in private, so all of the facts might not come to the attention of the public,” Meister told the newspaper. (AP)