You won’t BELIEVE what initiated the conduct investigation…
They’ve suspended the entire team — even removing them from the school website and canceling their trip to a competition in Daytona Beach, FL — based on an anonymous letter mailed to the school President on March 7.
The list says that team members were involved in a ‘long list of things’ like buying alcohol for underage team members, paying others to do their homework for them and… prostitution.
On Wednesday, the team was met by police after practice and members were questioned individually. The team was told at 11pm that they could leave and that they did nothing wrong.
If they did nothing wrong, then why the suspension?
Watch the WMBF News report:
WMBFNews.com, Myrtle Beach/Florence SC, Weather
The Coastal Carolina University cheerleading team has been suspended indefinitely pending a conduct investigation, according to a statement from a university official.
A cheerleader who spoke on the condition of anonymity said an investigator with the CCU Department of Public Safety came to their practice Wednesday night. The cheerleader said the investigator explained to the team an anonymous letter was mailed to school president David DeCenzo on March 7 alleging that team members were involved in “a long list of things,” including prostitution, purchasing alcohol for underage team members, and paying others to complete their homework assignments.
According to the cheerleader, the team was met by police outside the HTC Center after practice, who called the names of individual team members, and took them to CCU’s police station for questioning. During the questioning, the cheerleader said police searched through their cell phones. She said officers then told them they could leave around 11 p.m., after telling them they did nothing wrong…
…The HTC Center confirmed that a cheerleading showcase scheduled for April 4 is no longer on the center’s schedule for the week. The showcase was to be held ahead of the team’s scheduled appearance at a national competition in Florida.
The cheerleader said they were told they will no longer be able to attend the competition in Daytona Beach, Florida. Officials with the competition said the team is still registered and paid in full, and they have not heard the team will not be coming. Team members raised money for their own travel expenses to the competition, and are now upset that they are unable to attend, the cheerleader said.
Read more: WMBF News
Should some hard evidence other than an anonymous letter be required before suspending the entire team?
Was the team misled by police when they were told that they had done nothing wrong?
Do you think that the cheerleaders are being treated fairly?
Anonymous letters are funny things.
The allegations could be true and the person writing the letter doesn’t want to face the possible blow-back by an entire team.
Or…
It could have been written by someone jealous of members of the team, a disgruntled ex, someone from an opposing team, or your average poop disturber — like maybe a feminist that finds cheerleading ‘misogynistic’.
There is a long list of reasons why someone would write an anonymous letter with such scandalous allegations.
And the problem is you just don’t know.
That, to me, seems like a flimsy basis for suspending the entire team.
What do you think?
Let us know in the comments.
