SOURCE: nyti.ms

November 18, 2016

Statement from Coach Tanelli on the Wrestling Program https://t.co/Q1o9mEiqba

— Columbia Wrestling (@ColumbiaWR) November 18, 2016

Columbia University said Friday that it had completed its investigation into lewd and racist text messages shared by members of its wrestling team, and announced that it had suspended athletes from the team for the rest of the academic year, barred others from competing until the spring semester and cleared the remainder to resume competition this weekend.

The university said in a statement that its investigation found that the messages "were written, sent and viewed by a distinct group within the wrestling team." Those responsible, it said, have been suspended from competition for the rest of the season and for the 2016-17 academic year, while other wrestlers have been suspended only until the beginning of the spring semester.