New York Times, September 21, 2000
Trying to Skate Past A Hazing Scandal
By JOE LAPOINTE
BURLINGTON, Vt.
At first glance, it seems like a typical first
month of school in this bustling college town alongside a lovely
lake. The sign on the diner says "Welcome Back, Students." The
bookstore hours are posted. Students stroll under trees that show
hints of colorful foliage. At the athletic complex, hockey players
work out informally in anticipation of official practice, which
begins late next week.
But all is not quite back to normal at the University of Vermont,
especially in hockey. The team's opening game on Oct. 14 against
New Hampshire will be its first game of any kind since last
January, when the 1999-2000 season was canceled in midschedule
because players had lied about a hazing incident.
The initiation ceremony had resulted in a federal lawsuit filed by
a freshman goalie. Public outrage over the detailed accusations in
the suit caused the state's attorney general to begin an
investigation. The uproar eventually led university officials to
cancel the second half of the hockey season, prompting a broad
debate about the pervasiveness and propriety of hazing in college
sports.
Eight months have now gone by and players are back, getting ready
for a new season. Late last month, the case filed by the freshman
goalie, Corey LaTulippe, was settled, with LaTulippe expected to
get $80,000 from the university and smaller sums from some former
teammates. But it will take more than money and signed legal
documents to heal the emotional wounds and the damaged reputations.
The university has suffered, said David Nestor, the vice
president for student affairs. "We have experienced a drop in
Vermont students enrolling at the University of Vermont," he said
recently in a conference room at Gutterson Field House. As he
spoke, the sounds of sticks and pucks echoed up from the ice. "I
understand we have had about a 5 percent dip from what is typical.
Some of that has to do with the hockey issue."
Of the legal settlement, Nestor said: "It's maybe putting an end
to a chapter, but it's not the end to the book. This issue is not
just specific to athletics. It includes fraternities, sororities,
even academic honorary organizations, not necessarily specific to
this campus. The process has become highly ritualized within the
youth culture itself without much adult supervision and sometimes
not much adult awareness."
LaTulippe left school after the hazing incident and after he
failed to make the team. Now 20 years old, he plays for a junior
team in Cleveland.
In his lawsuit, LaTulippe said that the team's new players, at an
alcohol-drenched party last October in an off-campus house, had
been coerced into parading naked while holding each other's
genitals. He also said they had been told to do push-ups while
dipping their private parts into glasses of beer, after which they
had to drink the beer. And he said that the young players had been
blindfolded and fondled by strippers to amuse the veteran hockey
players.
"It should not have occurred, hazing shouldn't have happened,"
LaTulippe said in a deposition last May. "I want hazing to never
take place."
LaTulippe, who declined requests for an interview, ultimately
withdrew other allegations from his lawsuit, particularly those
blaming leaders in the athletic department for what took place. He
said under questioning at the deposition that the university's
hockey coach, Mike Gilligan, had not been at fault.
In addition, LaTulippe himself underwent three days of questioning
last May from defense lawyers representing the college and his
former teammates. During the deposition, LaTulippe was asked about
his own behavior before the initiation. Among many other things, he
was asked about accusations that he had urinated on teammates in
the shower while in high school and that he had exposed a swollen
and injured testicle to women. He did not dispute the accusations.
Gilligan, who attended the deposition, shook his head in wonder
when recalling it last week. "I was amazed at how things happen,
and how nasty they can get," he said.
LaTulippe suffered emotional distress and needed psychological
counseling last winter after he learned that Vermont's season had
been canceled as the affair accelerated beyond anyone's control,
people close to him said.
The monetary settlement is considerably less than the $350,000
LaTulippe's lawyers first suggested. Neither side has apologized
and both still present themselves as victims.
But Gilligan and university administrators hope to start the
school year fresh. "I wanted to go in this season not worrying
about depositions for myself, my players, my staff," he said.
"Enough is enough. We've got to start mending some of the wounds."
Most of his players have returned, still on scholarship, which
rankles some critics of the university. One of those critics is Ken
Squire, an auto racing executive who operates an influential radio
station in the area. In an editorial broadcast recently, Squire
called some of the returning hockey players "perverts and liars"
and said they should have been expelled from school. He also said
the university needed a change of administration to alter the
perception that Vermont is a party school.
Some players who were approached in recent days refused to be
interviewed. Others spoke warily. Jerry Gernander, the new captain
and a player not named in the suit, said he was surprised how he
had felt being back on campus.
"I didn't know what to expect," he said, adding that other
students seem to accept the players. "It is such a relief to focus
on hockey again."
When asked whether he had discussed hazing with his teammates for
this season, Gernander replied: "I don't think it's necessary.
We've learned a valuable lesson. It's not going to happen."
The Vermont Legislature has passed a law against hazing and the
university says it has increased its vigilance. The university
plans to hold workshops for athletes on hazing and to help develop
a broad National Collegiate Athletic Association policy against
hazing. Among other things, university officials also hope to
encourage healthier team initiation ceremonies that would be
attended by coaches and athletes.
Although many within the university had expected dismissals of
staff members, there have been none. A vice president who oversaw
the athletic department has retired and an assistant athletic
director has taken a leave of absence.
Some people who supported the hockey players last winter and who
were critical of LaTulippe still accuse him of being vindictive, of
setting up his teammates for his own monetary gain. These critics
say LaTulippe betrayed a cardinal rule of team sports: keep team
matters within the group.
Nestor, the university vice president, said, "There is this
incredibly tight code of silence that goes on amongst youth in this
culture."
He added: "Ratting on the team is absolutely not something you do.
You don't take it public. This is stuff taught in our sports-crazed
society to kids when they are very young. This stuff is constantly
being reinforced."
Nestor predicted that more allegations of hazing would be
disclosed at Vermont and other schools. He compared hazing to
sexual assault and alcohol abuse and said that public disclosure
raises consciousness and may help change attitudes.
"Based on things students say to us, they are thinking differently
about it," Nestor said of hazing. "The consequences are much more
severe than they believed. This will be, unfortunately, a primary
memory of their time as an undergraduate here. At the same time,
they want to be supportive of the university and the hockey team
members."
Gilligan said he appreciates that attitude. "Oh, man, I'd love to
have a real good year right now," he said. Gilligan said some
parents of new recruits had told him they believed Vermont would
now be a safe place to send a young athlete because hazing would be
strictly discouraged.
Of the mood over all, Gilligan said: "It's funny, the town is just
dying to see the game of hockey played. That's what matters, to get
that rink jumping again."
Copyright 2000
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