On April 11, a reader tip led the Dayton Daily News to break the story about the Wright State University men’s tennis season being abruptly cancelled. We reached out to Wright State and former players to find out what happened, but the university cited confidentiality laws for why it couldn’t release details. We filed a series of public records requests for documents that might reveal who was involved, what the allegations were and what punishment was meted out. Student records were withheld, and staff records were not illuminating. Wright State denied that its Office of Equity and Inclusion had any written documentation of an investigation that concluded one coaching staff member had violated WSU policies.
A Wright State University men’s tennis team culture of “mutual horseplay and banter” allegedly included inappropriate contact between teammates, according to a civil lawsuit filed in federal court.
The suit filed by former team members Diego Venegas and Marc Sodini — who were expelled from the school last spring — alleges the university denied their due process rights during an investigation into harassment claims involving members of the tennis team.
Nine of 11 team members, including Venegas and Sodini, were suspended. Those two denied poking their fingers into teammates’ rectums, something the suit references that two other team members complained about to school officials. That complaint was against seven teammates, including Venegas and Sodini.
The allegations in the lawsuit could explain why the school abruptly canceled its spring 2016 men's tennis season Jan. 21 because many players had reportedly violated the code of student conduct.
On Jan. 22, assistant coach Nathan Jones was put on paid administrative leave when Director of Athletics Bob Grant wrote him a letter telling Jones, “You may have conducted yourself in an inappropriate manner.”
On Feb. 3, Jones resigned. A memo in Jones’ personnel file says the school’s Office of Equity and Inclusion “did not have an opportunity to take action regarding these violations of policies.”
Wright State did not provide any documents pertaining to the investigations.
The lawsuit, filed in Dayton’s U.S. District Court, lists as defendants Wright State and Dr. Chris Taylor in his capacity as the school’s Director of Community Standards and Student Conduct.
A statement received Friday from a WSU spokesman said: “Wright State University has not received any notice that a complaint has been filed in federal court regarding its students. It is the university’s practice not to comment on any matters that may be the subject of pending litigation.
“University action involving student athletes and any related incidents have been consistent with our established policies and procedures regarding student conduct.”
Wright State officials did not respond to any specific questions about the tennis team or Jones.
WSU’s tennis team is scheduled to resume play this fall.
Sodini claimed in the filing that, to his knowledge, no WSU men’s tennis team members received any training, instruction or guidance about hazing, harassment or sensitivity to diversity issues.
WSU spokesman Seth Bauguess said the school reviews the hazing section of the student handbook annually and annual programming on hazing is mandatory for student-athletes.
The school’s Gender-Based Harassment and Violence Panel (GBHVP) held seven hearings on Feb. 10 against all nine team members accused.
“During the course of the investigation, hearing and appeals process, multiple members of the student body and tennis team advised defendants that plaintiffs were victims of the same sexual misconduct that had been alleged by the two student accusers,” the lawsuit alleged, mentioning specifically “poking” and racial slurs.
“Despite the repeated, consistent reports that plaintiffs were victims themselves,” the suit alleged, “defendants did nothing to investigate, prosecute or discipline the complainants for the alleged misconduct.”
Sodini was a senior seven weeks from graduation when he was expelled, the suit said, and he had never been sanctioned or disciplined prior.
“During the four seasons plaintiff Sodini was a member of the team, a team culture existed that included mutual horseplay and banter,” the suit alleged. “Such behavior was regularly witnessed by coaching staff who also participated in the behavior.”
Venegas, a native of Colombia who started school in 2014 majoring in physics and chemistry, was expelled and had his student visa revoked, according to the suit.
“At one point during the hearing, the complainants were unclear as to whether plaintiff Venegas was present for the primary event in which the poking behavior allegedly took place,” the lawsuit alleged.
The suit said both plaintiffs were discouraged from having legal counsel and talking to teammates, coaches, students or faculty.
The suit claimed free speech and equal protection violations, and it alleged “no evidence or testimony was presented to substantiate the charges” against either plaintiff and that they were not allowed to confront or cross-examine their accusers or those making statements against them.
The suit said the hearings were called under “false pretenses of an investigation of a tennis coach and team wide behavior” and that Sodini and Venegas were not allowed to attend any hearing but their own while the complainants were at all the hearings together.
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