Sex scandal rocks men's soccer team

Harvard's student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, uncovered scandalous documents which featured pictures of the female team members accompanied by ratings on attractiveness given by the males on a scale of one to ten. The males, explaining their ratings, also made descriptive comments which were sexually explicit. There was also a revelation of males suggesting the positions and styles that they feel particular female players might prefer during sex.

The paper's findings suggested that this may be a covert yearly tradition, tracing back to 2012.

"I was deeply distressed to learn that the appalling actions of the 2012 men's soccer team were not isolated to one year or the actions of a few individuals," said the President of the University, Ms. Dean Faust.

The team's suspension by the University means they will have to forfeit their place on top of this year's Ivy League football season.

Ms Faust added in a statement: "The decision to cancel a season is serious and consequential, and reflects Harvard's view that both the team's behaviour and the failure to be forthcoming when initially questioned are completely unacceptable, have no place at Harvard, and run counter to the mutual respect that is a core value of our community."

Pieter Lehrer, coach of the men's team, wrote in a statement to the Crimson that the team was «beyond disappointed that our season has ended in this way, but we respect the decision made by our administration".

Robert Scalise, the university's director of Athletics, also added his voice to the chorus of disappointment.

"It's very disappointing and disturbing that people are doing this,» he said.

"Any time a member of our community says things about other people who are in our community that are disparaging, it takes away from the potential for creating the kind of learning environment that we'd like to have here at Harvard."