Swimming in Scandal - Part 7

The aftermath of the swimming scandal at UC-Berkeley continues to make waves. From the Mercury News:

UC Berkeley is taking steps to address issues raised by an eight-month, $2 million investigation that led to the firing of Golden Bears women’s swimming head coach Teri McKeever, the most successful female coach in the sport’s history. A university spokesman declined to respond directly when asked on Thursday if those steps included investigating Jim Knowlton, Cal’s athletic director, and Jennifer Simon-O’Neill, the school’s executive associate athletic director and a long-time friend of McKeever’s who had direct supervision over the Golden Bears women’s swimming program for years.

“While we won’t confirm that an investigation is ongoing nor will we contest or challenge any reporting that suggests as much,” Dan Mogulof, university assistant vice chancellor, said in an interview with the Southern California News Group.

The university’s confirmation that it is taking additional steps beyond McKeever’s January 31 firing was in response to a series of questions from SCNG about the McKeever investigation and whether Cal had plans to follow up on issues raised by the probe. After interviewing 147 people and reviewing 1,700 documents, attorneys for Munger, Tolles & Olson, the Los Angeles-based law firm hired by the university, concluded “by a preponderance of the evidence that Coach McKeever discriminated against certain student-athletes, in certain instances, on the basis of race, national origin and disability.” The attorneys also found McKeever’s behavior “toward some, but not all, student-athletes in some instances was abuse and violated University policy.” ...

The weeks following the firing and release of the report have seen prominent financial donors to the university and its athletic program joining current and former Golden Bears swimmers and their parents in calling for the immediate dismissal of Knowlton and Simon-O’Neill, who critics allege ignored or failed to effectively address repeated credible allegations of bullying and harassment against McKeever.

Full story at https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/03/02/uc-berkeley-is-taking-additional-steps-beyond-teri-mckeever-firing/.

As we noted in recent postings, the Regents are creating a committee to look at athletic issues. While that action was the result of UCLA's move to the Big Ten, the McKeever matter will undoubtedly also be a topic as it unfolds.