Columbia University suspends wrestlers over lewd and racist texts

New York (CNN)Columbia University has suspended members of its wrestling team after a school investigation found they sent lewd and racist group messages and texts.

The entire wrestling program was put on hold earlier this week as the university conducted the inquiry.

"Those responsible for the offensive statements in the group chat have lost the privilege to represent Columbia University in intercollegiate athletics competition," the school said in a statement on its website.

The messages included alleged homophobic and racial slurs as well as crude sexual comments about women. Screen grabs of the alleged messages were published last week on Bwog.com, an independent student-run campus website. According to the site, some of the messages are recent and others go back as far as 2014.

Thursday, Bwog posted a letter of apology from the team, addressed to "the Columbia community."
"All of us apologize, without reservation or condition, to all members of the Columbia community for the creation and dissemination of the inappropriate, vulgar and hurtful text messages which have affected so many members of our community and the overall University," the team wrote.

The letter continued: "There is no excuse for this behavior. All of us have gained an entirely new perspective on how hurtful the comments made by members of our team truly are. These messages are not just words or playful jokes between teammates. This has been a wake-up call for our team. A culture change was obviously needed -- and, rest assured, it will take place."