UC-Santa Barbara Swimmers Disciplined for Hazing

According to a local Santa Barbara newspaper, the Noozhawk, members of the University of California, Santa Barbara’s swim teams are facing a temporary suspension after a hazing incident earlier this month.

All non-freshman, non-first-year-transfer members of the men’s swim team will be suspended from two competitions this season, while all non-freshman, non-first-year-transfer members of the women’s swim team are suspended from one competition during the 2016-2017 season.

The university received the report of hazing at the beginning of the month, and an investigation from the university’s office of judicial affairs and the athletic department confirmed the reports. The investigation found that excessive alcohol consumption was involved.

All UC- Santa Barbara swimmers will also have to complete a hazing awareness education program. In addition, the swimmers may be further disciplined at the end of the investigation.

“Both the University and the Department of Athletics take this issue extremely seriously,” said the UCSB office of judicial affairs press release, “And we are committed to maintaining a safe environment for our entire campus community.”

It is unclear whether the team will stagger the athletes’ meet suspensions or have the swimmers sit out the same meet(s).

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Former All-time Gaucho Great
7 years ago

Kinda surprised at all the comments from people either dissing the program or discrediting the report when there are so few details in the report upon which to form an opinion. Gauchos have always had great teams — meaning strong team bonds. They have also always gotten the most out of the talent they are able to recruit. Although the possibility for hazing to happen is real, you won’t find any of Gregg Wilson’s athletes who are ready to throw the program under the bus. If there is a problem with hazing, both Gregg and Matt will want to address it. People make mistakes. It’s not the end of the world.

Kathleen Kinsey
7 years ago

My kid swims for UC San Diego and the same hazing crap goes on there too. Something needs to be done. These kids work hard to get recruited and shouldn’t be forced to drink unless they want to.

interesting
Reply to  Kathleen Kinsey
7 years ago

You’ve raised children to college age that do not have the ability to say “no”, “no thanks”, “thats not for me”…etc?? I find that to be much more alarming than college age kids drinking.

Bob bowman
Reply to  Kathleen Kinsey
7 years ago

I’m a freshmen swimmer at ucsd and i can assure you we haven’t/won’t do anything of the sort, whoever you’re hearing this from is very wrong.. We haven’t been forced to do a single thing.

Jake at State Farm
7 years ago

This has been going on for sometime, the partying and team bonding issues (over many years). There has been too much emphasis on the partying part and not the focus where it should be. Fortunately no one was serious injured or got seriously sick that we know about (but there have been times in the past where kids were injured and taken to the hospital). This swim team should be performing at a elite college level but the focus has not been there over the recent years. Not sure why, it could a number of reasons but as one of only a few CA College teams with both mens & womens teams they are performing well below expectations. It has… Read more »

Interesting
Reply to  Jake at State Farm
7 years ago

See above response

Jake
Reply to  Interesting
7 years ago

First of all what does funding of a program have to do with responsibility of the team and partying to excessive levels? Second UCSB is not considered a powerhouse as you mentioned with Cal and Auburn. Not saying that can’t be, but as of today far from it…..These kids were probably underage and thats a problem. Heard of any problems at Stanford recently or maybe Lochte…..??? There is drinking all over the college scene, but the issue is hazing and what could have happen…voluntary or peer pressure call it what you want, there is too much pressure to “party” / “team bond” starting with freshmen from the time they are dropped off…. kids work to hard to get to this… Read more »

Interesting
Reply to  Jake
7 years ago

1st: funding was brought up as an alternative reason why Santa Barbara does not succeed against programs like CAL. It was a response to your idiotic remark that partying is getting in the way of Santa Barbara success. It’s obvious you’ve never been a part of an under funded program and have no idea that these children actually have to put in more work and effort than those being taken care of in fully funded programs.

2nd: in order to reinforce the first point: the only reason Santa Barbara does not compete with power houses is due to funding, period. (Not the “partying” you are whinning about).

3rd: I do have children. The fact that you commenters have so… Read more »

Jake
Reply to  Interesting
7 years ago

1) Funding is part of the problem, so is partying to excessive levels. I am well aware of UCSB program and what is or is not involved with the funding. I am also well aware of the work these kids put into this sport to be successful. I have been involved with swimming well over 14 years taking my kids to practice and meets all over the country and fully know what is involved in the swimming world. I have probably been to more meets than you have hair on your head, so I do have an idea.
2) My point about UCSB not able to compete due to partying is part of the problem, it has gain reputation… Read more »

Recruiter
Reply to  Jake
7 years ago

You continue to ignore that the same amount of partying happens at Cal,Texas…etc. Having been involved with recruiting in California I can assure you the best swimmers in the world would be swimming near the beach in SB if they were offered the same amount of money. That’s a fact.

DLswim
7 years ago

I have an idea. Stop doing stupid stuff.

No Surprise!
7 years ago

Well, well, well, this is no surprise. This team has done this for quite some time. It’s about time they were caught. They make it very hard on the kid who refuses to participate so it goes unreported…….. Hopefully the new recruits and transfers won’t have to endure what others have. You work hard to get recruited, you are welcomed to the team excited to be a part of it all and you are subject to this crap. Not a good way to start your college career having such high hopes and excitement to only be put through the ringer by the upperclassmen. Real team bonding experience? I don’t think so, it just shows you who not to trust and… Read more »

interesting
Reply to  No Surprise!
7 years ago

“they make it very hard on the kid who refuses to participate so it goes unreported” interesting discussion, as someone who swam four years for UCSB, I can say that I did not participate in anything that made me feel uncomfortable because our seniors kept an open line of communication and had our back. “This team has done this for quite some time” yes, i would imagine that team bonding and partying has existed since the first year UCSB had a swim team. Sooo, are there decades worth of ruined youth as a result of this “hazing”? You should come by our alumni weekends and see what percentage of the people feel or ever felt “like you really picked the… Read more »

No Surprise!
Reply to  interesting
7 years ago

We are not talking about “the good ‘ol days” college experience, we are talking about hazing. I agree with Jake, this team is not focused on preforming at an elite level unless you want to call their partying that. And I’m glad INTERESTING had such a great time at college and maybe when he was team captain it was great…good for you. But we are talking about apples and oranges here – voluntary partying, yes it’s college have a good time, take chances, experiment and then there is hazing. Being made, pressured, expected or told to do something uncomfortable or against someones beliefs at the best or even worst. I think “INTERESTING” knows some of those traditions have crossed the… Read more »

Interesting
Reply to  No Surprise!
7 years ago

What specifics do you know? Who was “forced.”? What activities were not voluntary? How was this different than “the good old days.” Sounds like you know more than the article does. Perhaps you could fill us in ? Are you jumping to conclusions? Did you read how I thought this could have been handled differently? On that note, again, these are young adults (old enough to go to war), everything they do everyday is voluntary.
Finally, as it relates to performance, go ahead and take a look at SB swimming history and tell me another team that has done as well with no funding. In fact, I bet the swimmers at Cal and Auburn and other powerhouses don’t drink/party… Read more »

MarkB
Reply to  Interesting
7 years ago

What college swim team has their “whole travel team on a full ride”? If so, their travels teams are very small.

interesting
Reply to  MarkB
7 years ago

Apologies, coming from a program where funding was stunted, we traveled with a very small team. Seems everyone on a fully funded travel team has the possibility to be on 2/3 scholarship, if they bring 21 swimmers. The point is the drastic difference in quality of athletes and athletic programs between an underfunded program like SB and fully funded programs like Cal. Not to mention the money that goes into facilities/programs used by the swimmers in fully funded programs.
On that note, whats your point ? Do fully funded programs not have advantages over programs like SB? Do these powerhouse programs not drink/party ?

Chill
Reply to  No Surprise!
7 years ago

All teams go to/host parties in college athletics regardless of caliber. This includes those elite level teams like Texas, Florida, and Cal.

Tammy
Reply to  No Surprise!
7 years ago

Guess we won’t be looking at that college.

SwimMom
Reply to  Tammy
7 years ago

Actually, now would be an excellent time to look at that college. You can bet that they’ll be dialing the “bonding” activities waaaaaayyyyy back in the future!

Interesting
Reply to  Tammy
7 years ago

Or any of them?

DutchWomen
7 years ago

Sigh. ATTENTON: College athletes reading this – By definition, you are supposed to be smarter than the average – you are in college! It takes a high degree of cognitive ability to earn a college degree (or so we thought) – use your head! The university system isn’t going backwards here. The safe spaces you’ve demanded on campus also include freshmen that don’t want to drink or feel uncomfortable doing so – learn it!

Markster
Reply to  DutchWomen
7 years ago

“It takes a high degree of cognitive ability to earn a college degree” HAHAHAHAHAHA

ClubCoach
Reply to  Markster
7 years ago

Using partial quotes – part of the problem, definitely not part of any solution.

Markster
Reply to  ClubCoach
7 years ago

I quoted what I found funny, no need for the whole thing. I certainly wasn’t trying to reach any solution…

About Hannah Hecht

Hannah Hecht

Hannah Hecht grew up in Kansas and spent most of her childhood trying to convince coaches to let her swim backstroke in freestyle sets. She took her passion to Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa and swam at NAIA Nationals all four years. After graduating in 2015, she moved to …

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