McPherson College, former softball players at odds over dismissals

Bullying and harassment accusations led to the dismissal of two McPherson College softball players last month, but an investigation by college officials revealed that the allegations, brought by first-year coach Ashley Spencer, were unsubstantiated.

Sisters Jenna and Kristin Kaiser were kicked off the team via a phone call from Spencer and athletic director Doug Quint on Dec. 21 for what Spencer cited as “lack of trust” between coach and players. She noted end-of-semester meetings in which the sisters asked to record conversations with Spencer based on advice from their family’s attorney.

The sisters, who unsuccessfully appealed last month, were advised to record the meetings after Spencer told Jenna Kaiser, a junior, that she was filing paperwork with the college accusing Kaiser of bullying and harassment during a meeting on Nov. 20. Kaiser said she would have been thrown off the team if she didn’t apologize to the teammate.

“I was shocked, I’ve never bullied or harassed anyone in my life,” Jenna Kaiser said. “As (Spencer) was telling me this I was scared, first of all … then I was shocked that there was a chance I was going to be thrown off the team. As soon as she told me what I was being accused of, I started crying. When I left, I wasn’t just upset, I was hysterical.”

Spencer, 24, was hired to replace longtime coach Mike McCormick in June.

Jenna Kaiser, who led the Bulldogs with 26 RBIs last season, apologized to the teammate in a closed-door meeting several days later.

“I told (her) if I said something that upset her, I was sorry,” Jenna Kaiser said. “I felt like a big part of my future was at stake. I mean, the coach is telling me charges are being filed against me? I was terrified. I’m trying to get into graduate school after this. I just wanted it all to go away.”

The teammate who made the allegation would not comment when reached by The Eagle.

It was the end of a month of tumult between the two sisters and Spencer that started when a paper by Kristin Kaiser, a freshman, written for an English composition class assignment about why she came to McPherson — was published as a letter to the editor in the McPherson Sentinel on Nov. 11 after the instructor picked several and sent them to the paper.

Kristin Kaiser was unaware the letter would be published.

In the letter, which is 129 words, Kristin Kaiser writes, “… I can honestly say that I came to McPherson because I wanted Mike as a coach. If Mike would not have been the coach of McPherson, I would not have come.”

Kristin Kaiser signed with McPherson when McCormick was still the coach.

“It didn’t go over really well,” Kristin Kaiser said. “(Spencer) called me into her office and yelled at me for about an hour. She told me I was a disgrace … to the school, the softball program and to her.”

When the sisters went home to Billings, Mont., for Thanksgiving, their family wanted to know more about the charges.

“Mainly, we wanted to see the paperwork, we wanted to see what had been filed against Jenna,” said the girls’ mother, Melinda Kaiser. “If she was in some sort of trouble, we wanted to know for sure what was being done.”

Dean of Students Shay Maclin conducted an investigation following the Nov. 20 meeting between Spencer and Jenna Kaiser.

“Usually, when there is an issue, it comes from the student, but this came from the coach,” Maclin said. “The way the process works, once I’m notified, I do an internal investigation. I did not think it was harassment or bullying, just two very different, competitive athletes.

“Usually, when there is a harassment charge it’s the student filing it and they put a formal statement in with your office … in this case, the student never asked me to have a harassment charge brought. It was the coach who asked me to look into it. I have some documentation, given to me later, but there was never any formal paperwork filed.

“After we met in November, I thought it was done and we were moving forward.”

In two separate statements given to the college, the teammate describes several arguments with Jenna Kaiser – at a party when the teammate was with a recruit, in the cafeteria and several at practice – and one incident where she says Jenna Kaiser struck her at practice. Several current members of the team say this never occurred.

“Never happened,” said one player who asked that she not be identified. “If somebody hit somebody else at practice, we would’ve seen it. It would’ve been a big deal. I think we all still have a lot of questions as to why (the Kaisers) were thrown off the team that haven’t been answered.”

The Kaisers returned to McPherson for an interterm session in early January and appealed their dismissal. The decision to kick them off the team was upheld in a meeting that neither sister was allowed to attend. They dropped out of school and returned to Billings last week.

They’re looking for a new school to attend in the fall.

“It’s been devastating,” said Jenna Kaiser, who was named one of the KCAC’s Champions of Character last year. “You feel like a college dropout, like you just gave up. The team was like my family to me, and that was taken away.”

The school is standing behind Spencer, who said both sisters had a “wall” up from the moment she took the job.

Spencer denied telling Jenna Kaiser she was filing charges against her, but did say she told Kaiser that if she didn’t apologize to the teammate, she would be off the team. She also insisted that the bullying, harassment and an unspecified, alleged hazing incident took place, contradicting Maclin’s findings.

“The dismissal of the student-athletes from the team was due to multiple incidents over a period of time,” Spencer said in a statement. “These student-athletes received more than one verbal counseling session about the type of behavior that was expected of teammates.

“In the end, they were removed from the team because their continued actions were deemed detrimental to the spirit and effectiveness of their teammates.”

“On behalf of McPherson College, we support the decision of Coach Spencer,” McPherson athletic director Doug Quint said in a statement. “The culminating events that led to the dismissal of the student-athletes … was based on continuous, counterproductive behavior.”

This story was originally published February 5, 2015 at 6:16 PM with the headline "McPherson College, former softball players at odds over dismissals."