For the first time since allegations first emerged against Katey Stone regarding claims of misconduct related to her treatment of players as head coach of Harvard's women's hockey team, Stone spoke publicly.
Stone spoke out against those allegations, and also made several of her own, opening a lawsuit against Harvard University of gender discrimination. Within the lawsuit, filed with the United States District Court, District of Massachusetts, the details of Stone's lawsuit were made clear.
While Stone retired in June 2023 , additional details were not provided by Harvard or Stone, who now claims she was instructed not to speak or defend herself by Harvard amidst allegations of misconduct. Stone and the lawsuit are now stating that Harvard "forced her to resign from her post..."
The lawsuit makes it clear that Stone disputes all claims of misconduct, aside from a racist and anti-Indigenous comment she made in front of her team, which included two Indigenous players, who both transferred schools following the event.
In the lawsuit, Stone and her team allege she was "the victim of a targeted attack by the University after false reports of misconduct were made against Plaintiff by former players on Defendant Harvard’s women’s ice hockey team."
Then athletic director Erin McDermott reported that the findings of an external review conducted by law firm Jenner and Block found that "our current women’s ice hockey team has not fostered a culture of hazing."
According to the lawsuit, "Harvard’s attack on Coach Stone is part and parcel of a larger culture at the University wherein female coaches are undervalued, underpaid, heavily scrutinized, and held to a breathtakingly more stringent standard of behavior than their male counterparts."
The lawsuit states that Harvard holds different standards for men coaching teams, separating them from inappropriate conduct of their players, while "Stone received harsh criticism and discipline for the behavior of her players that she did not know occurred and never condoned."
Stone "Advocates For Equal Pay"
According to the lawsuit filed in federal court, Katey Stone advocated for equal pay among coaches beginning in 2017. During those conversations, the lawsuit alleges that "it became readily apparent to Coach Stone that she had been egregiously underpaid as compared to her male counterpart for years while employed by the University." The lawsuit also alleges that "Harvard relied upon wholly inappropriate and unlawful justifications for its intentional decision to compensate the men’s ice hockey head coach at a higher pay scale."
It was believed, according to the lawsuit, that stone was annually receiving between $50,000 and $100,000 less than men coaching hockey at the school. In 2022, Stone's pay was increased by roughly $103,000.
Complaints Predated Public Allegations
As the lawsuit filed reports, Harvard University launched an investigation into Katey Stone and the Harvard women's hockey team in the spring of 2022, almost a year before allegations of wrongdoing became public in a Boston Globe article involving 20 former players of the Harvard women's hockey team. The investigation was launched following Stone's use of anti-Indigenous racism in the locker room.
Harvard also implemented another reviews, the Mercer Study, looking into the experience and satisfaction of all athletes at Harvard in 2020. According to the lawsuit, the investigation into Stone finished in July 2022 finding no "pattern of unprofessional behavior," but did recommend a Performance Improvement Plan to address feedback from players.
The lawsuit also names the group of former players who made allegations against Stone including body shaming, racism, insensitivity to mental health issues, pressure to return from concussions and other injuries, and hazing, as reported in the July 29, 2023 print edition of The Boston Globe. It states the players, referred to as "Doe Defendants" were "acting in a personal vendetta against Coach Stone" and "shared false information with The Boston Globe..."
According to the lawsuit, Harvard advised Stone "not to engage with the journalist," writing the story for The Boston Globe, "or defend herself."
If She Were A Man
During a conversation with athletic director Erin McDermott, "Coach Stone remarked that she would not have been or continue to be treated the way that she had been up to that point had she been a man." According to the lawsuit filing, McDermott allegedly agreed with Stone saying “this wouldn’t be happening to a men’s coach."
After dissuading, if not outrightly prohibiting, Coach Stone from defending herself against the article’s allegations, Defendant Harvard swiftly and definitively turned its back on Coach Stone, initiated yet another investigation against Plaintiff, and tacitly endorsed and condoned the spreading of false narratives and accusations harming Coach Stone’s personal and professional reputation.
According to allegations within the lawsuit, "The University’s actions against Plaintiff stood in stark contrast to Defendant Harvard’s response to male coaches engaged in similar conduct."
"Where female coaches, such as Coach Stone, are expected to be nurturing towards their female players and coach with compassion and sensitivity, male coaches are allowed to be “tough” and hold their male players accountable for their actions, level of play, and effort."
The lawsuit continues to state that male coaches have held their coaching roles "even after their respective teams and players have been publicly found to engage in gross misconduct" and that male coaches "enjoy a disconnect from their players’ behavior that offers them a safeguard against discipline if/when the students act inappropriately," a safeguard the lawsuit claims is non-existent for female coaches.
The final portion of Stone's allegations against Harvard claim she was forced to retire after she was informed the school would not be bringing her back for the 2023-2024 season.
Stone has demanded a trial by jury to settle the lawsuit.
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