ABIGAIL CAVIZO / ASSOCIATE EDITOR

During the Associated Student Government (ASG) senate meeting on Oct. 26, USD President James T. Harris III addressed the details of hazing allegations made public in a lawsuit against USD and an article by the San Diego Union-Tribune (U-T). The entire meeting was recorded and posted to their YouTube channel “USD ASG” on Oct. 26. 

At the ASG meeting, Harris denied the lawsuit’s claim that Coach Moore had any prior knowledge of the alleged hazing and discussed what the school has done so far to investigate hazing allegations.

“In the [U-T] article this morning, the individual who’s suing the university over this hazing incident suggested that the football coach knew what was going on. We know that to not be true. Not at all,” Harris stated. “On the morning of Aug. 18,   Coach Moore told the athletic director, ‘I knew by 2:00’ and we suspended all football activities by the afternoon, and Coach Moore was fully supportive of all of that. So, I think that was an untrue statement that was said.”

Harris also maintained that the university took appropriate, punitive action regarding the student-athletes  involved in hazing activities alleged in the lawsuit. 

“We suspended a number of student-athletes. They had athletic suspensions, and some were permanently suspended from the team for their actions in what happened, in regard to the hazing,” Harris stated. “Anyone found   in violation of our university code of conduct, our student policy, will go through student code of conduct procedures and will be handled. And of course, if there’s anything illegal or anything   criminal, then the police will have their own ways that they will deal with that,” Harris said.

Harris explained that, after Coach Moore’s initial report to former Executive Athletic Director Bill McGillis, the school immediately involved the police. Harris acknowledged the police’s role in the incident, and described the process of the investigation so far.

“The police are doing their own investigation. This is one of the most frustrating parts when something serious like this happens. The police do not move quickly, so they can take their time,” Harris said. 

Harris also said in the ASG meeting that USD has hired an independent law firm to move forward with the investigation; this independent law firm is “outside of USD and their legal counsel… [and] are doing their own interviews. But remember on a  football team, we have coaches, staff  and    football  players. We have over   100 people.  All of them are having  interviews.  Each one is being  interviewed individually, so it takes time to go through that.” 

Further, Harris discussed restorative justice options for students who allegedly participated in hazing activities. 

“There’s another side of it, and this is that these are also young men that are participating. We don’t expect everyone to make the best decisions, always — and so we do work with our students, in any situation they have,” Harris said. “For example: restorative justice circles. We have a Center for Restorative Justice on campus. They will be helping us with this as well.”

According to USD’s Office of Ethical Development and Restorative Practices website, the focus of the “Restorative Circle” is that it “seeks to generate increased understanding and agreements for how to best move forward in a positive way,” to get students to see the other perspective, if they are in conflict with one another. Another   form of restorative justice USD offers is the “Restorative  Justice Conference,” which gives students who are responsible for misconduct a space to express “remorse about the impact they had on other community members and desire to apologize and repair, to the best extent possible,  any harm caused.” 

Harris closed his discussion about the hazing lawsuit against USD and the information reported on in the Oct. 25 U-T article by recognizing the students who reported the incident, and he apologized to the USD community for the article’s potentially surprising revelations. 

“Know that we take [hazing] seriously, we don’t want this to happen, and I’m appreciative and   grateful   that  those students who came forward and reported immediately. They’re courageous young men to do that. And     I’m   horrified   about what I’m hearing. And so, I can’t validate what was in the paper [U-T article] until we have the final investigation done, but I’m sorry   that    you    had    to    read    this about your school,” Harris said.

Harris spoke about the hazing  lawsuit and press coverage at an ASG Senate meeting on Oct. 26. 

Emma-Kate Squires/The USD Vista