The Daily Progress of Charlottesville, Va., has reported that a federal judge dismissed three out of 10 charges against former senior members of the men’s University of Virginia swim team.
Anthony Marcantonio, a former first-year UVa swim team member, alleged that upperclassmen team members, Kyle Dudzinski, Luke Papendick, Charles Rommel, David Ingraham and Jacob Pearce, hazed him and other new members of the swim team in August 2014. He claims that they were threatened into participating in a number of activities, including ingesting a live goldfish and touching other teammates’ genitals. These activities led to charges that include hazing, false imprisonment, and assault.
Judge Norman K. Moon declared that the plaintiff failed to state a veritable claim for three of the counts, noting that Marcantonio did not specifically identify which defendant performed which actions.
The validity of the remaining seven counts will be decided by a jury during a trail that is currently scheduled for September 19.
This latest development in the UVa hazing case comes on the heels of a recent study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The report revealed that hazing remains prevalent throughout the sports world and concludes that increased education and awareness are needed in order to help people identify hazing and reduce its negative impact. Read More
