BC students’ parents dispute hazing charge

The parents of three alleged hazing victims on the Boston College swimming and diving team are rebutting the most explosive allegation cited by a school official: that freshmen were instructed to binge-drink and consume their vomit.

While an upperclassman or former team member may have jokingly and inappropriately suggested that a freshman ingest vomit after throwing up from drinking too much alcohol, the parents said, they were unaware of anyone complying with such a suggestion or feeling forced to drink.

BC is investigating the allegations and has reported them to the university’s police department. The swimming and diving team has been indefinitely suspended during the inquiry.

“I do NOT expect there to be evidence of salacious rumors like ‘eating vomit,’ ” the parent of one alleged freshman victim said by e-mail.

Another parent said, “This is a crime in search of a victim. It has been totally blown out of proportion.”

While acknowledging that an unspecified number of team members engaged in excessive underage drinking, one parent said by e-mail, “I expect my student will testify that he was voluntarily at these gatherings; that he was having a great time; that he did not feel forced, coerced, or mandated to do anything; that he did not feel that he would be ostracized for not participating; that he did not vomit in connection with his participation in the events; and that the events did not cause him any emotional distress or physical harm. I also expect the evidence to be that no one was injured, and no one required medical at

tention, to my knowledge.”

The parents of other alleged freshman victims provided similar accounts.

BC spokesman Jack Dunn said, “The Office of the Dean of Students is investigating credible allegations of hazing. As a matter of policy, the University does not comment on ongoing investigations.”

To protect the privacy of the students, the Globe is not identifying the parents. The parents of one swimmer also withheld their child’s gender.

BC is investigating what occurred at three parties attended by male and female team members on Labor Day weekend, two at residence halls, the other off campus. The parents said the parties followed traditional team-building activities, including the swimmers and divers sitting together at Alumni Stadium Sept. 2 to support the football team in its opening game.

The parents of one alleged victim said their child attended all three parties and witnessed nothing they considered hazing. Their child told them that the freshman swimmers and divers have since communicated with each other and none have said they believed they were victims of hazing.

“We just want the public to know that there aren’t any freshmen complaining that they were harmed or coerced or in any way,” a parent said. “The public thinks something horrific happened, like what you think about during hazing events, but nothing like that happened.”

Another parent said, “It was a huge group of kids, and everybody had fun. A couple of kids puked, but nobody got hurt, and now it’s national news.”

The school began looking into the allegations after receiving a report from a professor who overheard a conversation between students, according to the parents. All 15 freshman swimmers and divers were questioned preliminarily by university officials before the athletics department issued a statement Sept. 20, saying “administrators determined that hazing had occurred within the program.”

Dunn said later that day that the university would open an investigation.

The next day, lawyers for 28 swimmers and divers accused BC of prematurely reaching the conclusion that hazing had occurred. By publicly declaring hazing had occurred before the allegations were fully investigated, the lawyers wrote, BC drew national attention to the case, “directly causing reputational, social, mental, and emotional harm to the members of the Swimming and Diving team and creating a hostile environment for the student athletes on campus.”

The same day, BC issued a clarification, no longer asserting that hazing had occurred. The university instead said that it had received “credible reports of hazing,” warranting a full investigation.

But the damage was done, the parents contended.

“I expect that Boston College’s own confidential files would show that drinking, and underage drinking, is a commonplace occurrence that Boston College addresses routinely and privately,” one parent wrote. “Typically, Boston College does not throw students, who may have erred, into the national spotlight. I think the evidence will be that Boston College made a mistake in doing that here.”

Hazing remains a national problem, as many collegiate swimming and diving teams (including those at Dartmouth, Brown, and Colgate) as well as other sports programs have been disciplined in recent years for such activities.

BC’s official hazing policy is broader than the Massachusetts statute. Among behaviors that BC defines as hazing are “yelling, swearing or insults,” “consumption of vile substances,” and “binge-drinking and drinking games.”

Students need not be forced to participate for hazing to occur, under BC’s policy. “Hazing may also involve implied coercion,” the policy states. “Forced or coerced (explicit or implied) alcohol consumption” is classified as “violent hazing.”

With such broader definitions, students may be more vulnerable to BC disciplinary measures than they would be under state law.

BC has complied with the law by submitting annual reports to the Department of Higher Education, attesting that it has directed all student groups, teams, and organizations to notify each full-time student about the state hazing law.

However, one of the alleged victim’s parents questioned whether BC went far enough in informing the swimming and diving team about the school’s hazing policy.

“To my knowledge, there was no education of the team about the specifics of the Boston College policy, and how to identify the line between foolish college drinking behavior and hazing,” the parent said.

The sad part of the indefinite suspension, several parents said, was that the alleged freshman victims and teammates who may have done nothing wrong are barred from their sport.

“At the end of the day, I expect that the conclusion will be that certain students made mistakes, and that Boston College made mistakes, as well,” a parent wrote. “The question at hand, while the investigation plays out, is what is the path forward and is it necessary to destroy the entire swim team through a draconian indefinite suspension, or is there some more balanced approach available?”

None of the parents criticized BC for investigating the matter.

“It’s possible that something happened that we’re not aware of,” one parent said. “If something did happen, then it should be dealt with, but punishing the entire team is totally ridiculous.”

One parent of an alleged victim said their child considered gaining a spot on the BC team and bonding with their new teammates “a dream come true.”

“I can’t believe we saved our whole lives to send our very accomplished child to college, and now they’re sitting there in limbo,” the parent said. “No one on the team is crying out, saying, ‘I was wronged,’ yet all these kids are sitting there asking, ‘Are we going to have a season?’ ”