Two former Central Connecticut men’s soccer players and their family are dissatisfied with the results of an internal review conducted by the university following their dismissal from the team.

Puerto Rico natives Juan and Lui Ramirez, soccer players since childhood, transferred to CCSU in 2017 as non-scholarship athletes to play Division I soccer under head coach Shaun Green.

Juan had been in touch with Green in years prior and felt CCSU was the best place to further his and brother’s collegiate soccer career.

Due to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) regulations, Lui was deemed ineligible due to CCSU being his third four-year university. Lui previously attended school in Puerto Rico and at Jarvis Christian College in Texas. Juan’s eligibility was considered “under review” due to a mishap in paperwork upon transferring and the matter was not settled by the time of his dismissal.

In October, his third month with the team, Juan described an incident that took place at practice in October 2017. Juan said he raised his voice out of frustration with one of his teammates at practice and as a result, Green yelled at him. Juan shared that nothing else happened that day.

President Dr. Zulma Toro affirmed that the family believed the incident led to their dismissal.

“One of the two students was very critical of the coach in terms of the way he was managing the team and that was why he was ‘kicked out,'” Dr. Toro said in an interview with The Recorder.

After the incident, Juan and Lui met with Green, where they were dismissed from the team. According to Juan, a “heated conversation” occurred between both sides.

The brothers were dissatisfied with the way in which they were dismissed from the team, as they felt the reasoning behind it was unfair. While Juan was allegedly dismissed from the team due to his attitude, Green told Lui his lack of ability was the reason for his dismissal, according to the brothers.

The brothers’ complaints were taken to the administration as a result. Juan, Lui and their father, Ramon Ramirez, met with Dr. Toro and Dr. Christopher Galligan, vice president for Institutional Advancement, who at the time had oversight in the Athletics Department, to discuss in further detail the dismissal. As a result of this meeting, an internal review was launched.

“The first time they came up and complained, Dr. Galligan, who resided over athletics, went and worked with the associate directors and the compliance officer in athletics to find out what was going on with the situation. In addition to that, as part of the process, Dr. Galligan talked to the coach [Green],” Dr. Toro said in an interview. “We reviewed the processes that were followed and the regulations from the NCAA to be sure no NCAA violations were made in any of the dealings of the team. And we confirmed that everything was, that’s why the compliance office was involved because she keeps track of everything.”

The review concluded that “Carolyn Magnan, University Counsel, found no indication that Coach Green has discriminated against Juan Ramirez.”

However, the brothers and their father claimed that they never mentioned racial discrimination in their discussions with Dr. Toro and Dr. Galligan.

“I am 100 percent certain that we never made allegations of racial discrimination,” Ramirez said in an email to Dr. Toro that he sent to The Recorder.

But Dr. Toro insists racial discrimination was among the initial complaints.

“The students brought a number of issues, including discrimination of race. And remember, I share that race. They are from Puerto Rico, I am from Puerto Rico,” Dr. Toro stated in an interview. “The ombudsperson is very passionate about those things in the cases he is involved with. He took it upon himself to meet with the people in athletics and to meet with Carolyn Magnan, who was a part of the investigatory process.”

The internal review took nine months, with the findings announced in July 2018.

The family was displeased with the length of the review, saying it put the brothers’ collegiate soccer careers in jeopardy.

“We waited for months and I would like to emphasize that the investigation was not done in a timely manner, completely jeopardizing the players’ ability and opportunity to play with another organization,” Ramirez said in the email.

“Easily, any investigation will take from eight to nine months,” Dr. Toro said. “The problem is that the accusations continued to change. At the beginning, the conversations were about discrimination, finding out why the students were not a part of the team anymore, the fact that we had a commitment with the students and we were not making good on that commitment. We did that, we sent the students the results and then the father came back with additional complaints, and we looked at everything.”

The Ramirez family requested a follow-up investigation, but Dr. Toro did not deem it necessary.

“It gets to a point once you’ve exhausted every avenue, everything, I am not going to continue investigating something because the results I am going to get are the same,” she stated.

Juan and Lui remain enrolled at the university despite their dissatisfaction.

“I would prefer to play at another school [because of the situation],” Juan said.

They currently play for club soccer at the university, but their collegiate soccer careers remain uncertain.