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UMBC failed to protect athletes sexually assaulted by swim coach for years, DOJ finds

Dr. Valerie Sheares Ashby, President UMBC, speaks at the Impact Maryland Conference in October. (Kirk McKoy/The Baltimore Banner)
Kirk McKoy
/
The Baltimore Banner
Dr. Valerie Sheares Ashby, President UMBC, speaks at the Impact Maryland Conference in October.

A three-year United States Department of Justice investigation found that University of Maryland Baltimore County knew about allegations of sex discrimination by a former head coach and failed to properly respond.

The investigation found that the university did not devote enough resources to comply with Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination in education, which allowed coach to sexually harass and discriminate against student athletes between 2015 and 2020.

“We take full responsibility for what happened, and we commit ourselves not only to addressing the failures, but also to rebuilding our community’s trust,” UMBC President Valerie Sheares Ashby said in an emailed statement to the campus community Monday afternoon.

The justice department found that Chad Cradock, who was the head coach of the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams until October 2020, engaged “in sex-based harassment, including unwanted sexual touching of male student-athletes, as well as sex discrimination against female student-athletes, on an ongoing basis for years.” Cradock died in March 2021.

The story continues at The Baltimore Banner: UMBC failed to protect athletes sexually assaulted by swim coach for years, DOJ finds

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