Update March 11, 2016 10:45 a.m.

Following much speculation, the New York Times has confirmed that Yale basketball player Jack Montague's expulsion was the result of a sexual misconduct case. According to the Yale Daily News, in an article that explains the process of the University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct, a formal complaint was filed against the former team captain in November, months after the alleged misconduct. The decision to expel Jack came on February 10.

In response to the backlash they received for supporting their former teammate, Yale basketball released a statement Wednesday, according to the Times. In it, the team said it, "supports a healthy, safe and respectful campus climate where all students can flourish. Our recent actions to show our support for one of our former teammates were not intended to suggest otherwise, but we understand that to many students they did. We apologize for the hurt we have caused, and we look forward to learning and growing from these recent incidents. As student representatives of Yale, we hope to use our positions on and off the court in a way that can make everyone proud."

Original Story, March 8, 2016, 12:51 p.m.

The Yale University basketball team is a picture of solidarity and brotherhood, supporting their own through and through. But that unwavering support is currently raising a lot of eyebrows, as rumors abound about the expulsion of captain Jack Montague. Jack was expelled from the university recently, and though there has been no official statement regarding the reason for his departure, many believe it was due to sexual assault allegations made against him. Last week, Yale students plastered the campus with posters demanding that the basketball team “stop supporting a rapist.”

But, despite the public protests, the team is still standing by Jack, as evidenced by their behavior before and during last weekend’s game against Columbia. According to Newsweek, the team FaceTimed with their absent captain prior to the start of the game, which secured them a spot in the NCAA tournament. They also showed public displays of support: Guard Khaliq Ghani wore wrist tape with Jack’s nickname, “Gucci,” written on it, and several players raised four fingers in the air — symbolic of Jack’s jersey number — at the end of the game.

“He’s our leader, he’s our captain,” senior Justin Sears told Newsweek about their ongoing communication with and support of Jack. “We are always talking, always texting. He’s not here, but he is always with us.”

And it’s not just the students who are speaking out in favor of the expelled captain. James Jones, the team’s head coach, told ESPN in a post-game interview, “Jack knows how we feel about him. We love him. He’s a great young man and we love him.”

But though Jack hasn’t been formally charged — as far as public records go — with any crime, the blind support his teammates and coach are showing is rubbing many people the wrong way. “It was the silent protest on the part of Yale’s team that frustrated me most,” one anonymous student told the Yale Daily News.

Another student, Lucy Carmelo, expressed her disappointment in an op-ed for the Yale Herald titled “Misplaced solidarity,” when describing the events of an earlier game, when the team wore special warm-up shirts in honor of their former teammate:

“In addition to the name being inscribed on shirts, chants of ‘Gucci’ echoed in the gym as the team went on to beat Harvard. With each cheer, it became apparent that the crowd’s support was for more than just a name on a shirt. Sure, some fans may miss their friend Jack, but these chants were not present at previous games or on Senior Night. Regardless of whether or not the cheers were merely a demonstration of support for the missing player, they reinforced the message of the T-shirts: Montague is not truly gone so long as his name is chanted and glorified, and those who feel uncomfortable about it are unwelcome in this gym. The nature of some conversations on campus surrounding sexual violence or hookup culture has made behaviors like these appropriate.”

This isn’t about whether or not Jack is guilty; this is about a message that’s being sent to any victims of sexual assault. By publicly supporting their captain — as innocent as it may feel to them — those players are telling victims that if they come forward, they likely won’t be supported, and their voices won’t be heard. “Every single individual bears responsibility for a campus climate in which violence is committed against its members,” The Yale Women’s Center wrote in a statement. “Those who stand by are complicit. This is a call for all of us to look within our own communities, speak up when we can about dangerous norms, and empower our friends to strengthen respectful ones.”

Related: How Two Girls Are Teaching Students Their Rights to Fight Campus Sexual Assault