A violently hazed UVA swimmer has sued five of his former teammates for forcing him to abandon his pursuit of a swim career at the acclaimed college.
Anthony Marcantonio asserts in legal documents filed on June 22d, that upperclassmen on the Virginia university’s swim team repeatedly subjected him and others to “systemic, threatening, degrading, humiliating, and violent hazing."
The 19-year-old also claims that at least one other cruelly treated newcomer to the team sustained an eye injury in a group assault, for which the victim was “told to lie” about if questioned … or be gang raped.
As with the volumes of similar hazing-abuse allegations filed against many of America’s “finest” college organizations and fraternities in recent years, some of what first time swimmers at UofV had to endure also involved perverse rituals and, of course, excessive drinking.
What’s refreshingly different, however, is that University of Virginia officials investigated Marcantonio’s complaint “immediately” and, finding cause for real concern, tossed out the suspect students for the rest of the semester.
Two have since transferred to another college, according to school records, and none of those who remained have rejoined the now-infamous swim team.
A university spokesman further told ABC News this week that it “took prompt action to provide support service to the affected students” as well.
But, unfortunately, all those commendable actions appear to have come too little too late -- their violently hazed UVA swimmer has decided to resume his own collegiate studies and swimming ambitions at Northwestern University.
His lawsuit against the five offending ex-teammates at Virginia seeks nearly $100,000 in damages from them for their pattern of intentional and extreme abuse.
