The incident was reported Sept. 30, although the South Lane School District has not released any information to the public.

Two boys were arrested and cited after a member of the Cottage Grove High School junior varsity football team was sexually assaulted in the boy's locker room as part of a hazing incident last month.

However, the school district has not released any information about the incident to the public in the more than three weeks since the incident happened. Messages to South Lane School District Superintendent Larry Sullivan were not returned Monday.

However, Interim Assistant Superintendent Brian McCasline said late Monday that safety "is of our utmost concern."

"In response to this issue, we have increased supervision and will make changes to instruction for student athletes and coaches," McCasline said, while declining to discuss the changes or other details related to the incident.

Cottage Grove Police Chief Scott Shepherd confirmed Monday morning the account that described the victim being assaulted with a broomstick with as many as 10 people present, which was reported to The Register-Guard by a member of the victim's family. Shepherd did not immediately know the exact number of students present during the incident. Shepherd said he believes the school took additional sanctions against a number of students but wasn't sure what those sanctions were.

McCasline declined to say how many students were involved or if any of them have been disciplined or kicked off the football team, citing student privacy.

South Lane School Board has established policies prohibiting sexual harassment and hazing. While the two teens were cited for physical harassment, the incident would fall under the policy's definition of sexual harassment as outlined in the sexual harassment policy.

The policy defines sexual harassment as including, but not being limited to, physical touching of a sexual nature, sexual gestures and sexual activity or performance. The district must consider details like whether the environment of the act was hostile or viewed as hostile by the complainant, the number of individuals involved in the incident and where the incident happened (such as on school property or at a school-sanctioned event.)



“It is the intent of the Board that appropriate corrective action will be taken by the district to stop the sexual harassment, prevent its recurrence and address negative consequences,” the policy reads. “Students in violation of this policy shall be subject to discipline up to and including expulsion and/or counseling or sexual harassment awareness training, as appropriate. The age and maturity of the student(s) involved and other relevant factors will be considered in determining appropriate action.”

According to Shepherd, School Resource Officer Cory Stevens was alerted the morning of Sept. 30 by staff at Cottage Grove High School to the report from one student of hazing and bullying incidents associated with the football team.

The male student was interviewed at the school and details of the incidents were obtained. Stevens conducted additional interviews of the victim, witnesses and suspects in this case.

Two students, both 15 years old, were arrested and each issued citations, Shepherd said. The case was then forwarded to Lane County Youth Services. Because all of the involved are juveniles, the suspects' names were not released.

Rather than a sexual assault charge, the two boys have been cited with physical harassment, according to Shepherd. Shepherd said he did not know what factors were in play that led to the charge of physical harassment instead of something more serious, such as sexual assault.

In response to questions about the case, Lane County District Attorney Patty Perlow said Monday that in every case, the charging decision is based upon the evidence presented. Juvenile cases are handled differently than adult cases, but still require proceeding on the evidence available.

State law provides that information on a specific juvenile matter can only come from the department of youth services. A message Monday to Jason Davis at Lane County Youth Services was not immediately returned.

Shepherd called the incident a "very egregious and actually shocking" report his department received.

"I can tell you the allegations are disturbing," Shepherd said, calling the case an elevated instance of bullying and harassment.

This type of hazing incident is not new. Nationwide, similar rape cases as part of hazing have been reported in the media. Last year, four Maryland teens, all 15 year olds, were charged as adults with first-degree rape. According to police reports obtained by the Washington Post, five boys from the Damascus High School junior varsity football team turned off the lights in the team's locker room before attacking four fellow teammates, pinning at least two of them down and assaulting them with broomsticks in a hazing ritual referred to as "brooming."

Earlier this year in Connecticut, a former Seymour High School football player was charged with assaulting a teammate with a broomstick during a 2015 hazing incident. Although the student is now of age, he was charged as a juvenile because of his age at the time of the alleged incident. Last month, he was granted special probation by the judge in his case to participate in an accelerated rehabilitation program, a loosely supervised form of probation by which first-time offenders can have criminal charges against them dropped if they stay out of trouble.

Additional criminal investigations, some resulting in charges, were launched after broomstick-hazing at schools in Long Island, N.Y., in 2004, New Mexico in 2008, Vermont in 2011 and 2012, South Carolina in 2013, New Jersey in 2014 and in Washington state in 2015, according to the Seattle Times.

This type of hazing has been featured in the media as well, for example a similar scene takes place in the second season of the Netflix show "13 Reasons Why."

Education reporter Jordyn Brown contributed to this report.