The University of California, Berkeley has hired the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Tolles to conduct an external investigation into allegations that women’s swim head coach Teri McKeever bullied and verbally abused more than 20 current and former Golden Bears athletes, according to a letter the university sent to current team members.
The external investigation is in response to a Southern California News Group investigation that revealed at least six Cal women’s swimmers since 2018 had made plans to kill themselves or obsessed about suicide for weeks or months because of what they describe as McKeever’s bullying.
McKeever, the former U.S. Olympic women’s swimming team head coach, was placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday pending the results of the investigations.
Twenty-four current and former Cal swimmers, eight parents, a former member of the Golden Bears men’s team and two former Cal athletic department employees have told SCNG that McKeever was a bully who for decades has allegedly verbally and emotionally abused, swore at and threatened swimmers on an almost daily basis. McKeever, 60, also reportedly pressured athletes to compete or train while injured or dealing with chronic illnesses or eating disorders, even accusing some women of lying about their conditions despite being provided medical records by them.
McKeever is also being investigated by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for misconduct, according to SafeSport emails and three swimmers contacted by the center.
Munger, Tolles & Olson’s past clients include Michael Ovitz in a dispute over his salary with Disney, Merrill Lynch, Southern California Edison and the Philippines in a case against Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos.
The McKeever investigation will be led by Hailyn Chen and Lauren Bell.
Chen was one of the first female coxswains for the Yale varsity crew team and was named the program’s MVP in 1996. She is a graduate of UCLA Law School.
Bell joined the firm in March after previously working as senior counsel in the Justice Department’s criminal division. Bell has a B.A. in economics from Harvard and master’s and law degrees from Stanford.
Source: www.mercurynews.com