The men's rugby club team at West Point won't be playing any games for awhile. After academy officials learned several team members had forwarded emails that demeaned women, the club was has been temporarily disbanded.
An investigator at the school concluded in May that there was no “evidence of sexual assault” or of “inappropriate pictures of cadets,” West Point officials said. But the investigation found that members of the team violated several tenets of the Cadet Disciplinary Code.
The cadets were ordered to complete an “intense respect rehabilitation program,” which involved self-assessments, reflective journals and role-model interviews, supervised by a mentor. Cadets on the team have since graduated, the statement reads; 15 members of the team were in the class of 2013.
Those seniors were also demoted, stripped of leave and forced to march 120 hours in full dress uniforms. According to West Point officials, an investigation into the team's overall culture is still underway. There's no timetable as to when the team will play again.
The Sunday Times provided details of just how raunchy the emails were.
The rugby team was reported after a cadet who was not a member was forwarded an email in which an ex-girlfriend was described as having worn a sex toy because she had been “the man” in the relationship.
A former cadet, who has seen the emails, said: “There were jokes about putting people in cages and forcing them to dance while being leashed.” There were also sexual references to a female cadet eating a burrito.
“The females were referred to as manly, disgusting, sluts and fat.” The cadet added that photographs of naked women had been exchanged among more senior members of the team by text message, but this had not been investigated.
This same story reveals some pretty disturbing details about how male athletes at West Point view women. According to former cadet Charles Clymer, the football team is one of the worst offenders. Football players call female cadets "trous," because they're supposedly only there for men to get into their pants. Given these details, one can hope the investigation expands to the culture of the entire athletic department.