Washington City Paper reports that Howard University is temporarily suspending all sports teams and all upcoming games while they investigate...something. The school's terse statement:
It is with great regret that we have temporarily suspended intercollegiate athletic competition. This is a self-imposed action while the University conducts a review. We are working quickly to resolve this issue.
The Deadspin staff has tossed around some pretty apocalyptic scenarios, but whatever happened either took place across so many teams that all of them need to be investigated, or took place in the athletics office itself. More details to come.
Update, 3:35 p.m.: It's not clear if this is related, but Howard's lacrosse team cancelled its last matches, including a Sunday forfeit to Liberty. According to a poster on the LaxPower message board:
Longwood was already on the road to Howard Friday when the LU coach received a terse phone call that the game was cancelled with no explanation whatsoever...Liberty was informed Friday about the same time that their Sunday game with Howard would not be played, again with no explanation.
Update, 4:00 p.m.: We may have our first indication of the athletics-wide violation. Reports City Paper:
A member of the Howard bowling team says a senior athletic administrator told the team the university is investigating problems with textbook vouchers given to athletes. According to the bowler, the university allowed athletes to spend money that they didn't use on books on whatever they wanted, a possible violation of NCAA rules. The bowler says the university is demanding that any money spent improperly be repaid to Howard and that athletes won't be able to register for classes until they clear up the matter.
