BALTIMORE COUNTY — The Justice Department announced the results of its investigation into sexual abuse allegations at UMBC.
It's alleged that a former head coach of the Swimming and Diving Team at UMBC sexually harassed male student-athletes and discriminated against female student-athletes.
The Department determined the University did not comply with its Title IX obligations in response to known allegations of sex discrimination in the Athletics Department.
This included the unwanted touching of male student-athletes and discrimination against the female student-athletes for years.
The head coach was placed on leave in October 2020, he later died in March 2021.
For nearly twenty years, one person served as the head coach for the over four hundred student-athletes who participated on the Swimming and Diving Team.
The Department's investigation found that under the guise of building team "unity," the head coach created an abusive environment.
He allegedly demanded to know everything about the student-athletes: not just their grades and schedules, but also their family dynamics, alcohol consumption, dating and sex lives.
Numerous male student-athletes were abused between 2015 and 2020 the investigation says.
This abuse continued even after reports of the abuse reached the Title IX Office in 2019.
Several students reported to the Department their belief that Athletics Department staff were aware of the head coach’s sexually inappropriate behavior towards student-athletes.
"There's no way no one knew," one student said.
The head coach encouraged romantic relationships among the male and female student-athletes, which gave him insight into and control over the most personal aspects of the student-athletes' lives.
At least two UMBC administrators knew male student-athletes sexually harassed female student-athletes on the team and the head coach tried to address these situations himself.
According to the investigation, these employees also did not report the sexual harassment to the Title IX Office.
The University has reached settlement agreements with several impacted student-athletes.
The Department of Justice will also work with the University to reform its Title IX office.
University President Valerie Ashby put out a statement saying the University is "committed to doing all we can to ensure the safety and well-being of all students."
Here's the full statement:
UMBC takes full responsibility for the breakdown in Title IX enforcement between 2015 and 2020 that the Department of Justice investigation identified. We deeply regret the pain this caused for students who were directly impacted by the misconduct. The university is working to strengthen our Title IX policies and processes, and we are committed to doing all we can to ensure the safety and well-being of all students.
