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EXCLUSIVE: A Yale women’s track and field athlete said she recently quit the team because of a “toxic culture and incompetent coaching staff,” as dissent within the university’s athletic department has leaked over the last week.
The athlete, who asked to remain anonymous, sent an unsolicited email with these claims to Fox News Digital from an official Yale student email account, and Fox News Digital verified she previously competed on the university’s women’s track and field team.
“I recently quit due to a toxic culture and incompetent coaching staff who were only recently hired by Vicky Chun during a forced turnover in leadership of the team,” part of the email read.
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A Yale Bulldogs flag waves in the wind during the Ivy League Tournament championship college lacrosse game between the Pennsylvania Quakers and the Yale Bulldogs on May 8, 2022, at Stevenson-Pincince Field in Providence, RI. (Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The athlete later gave Fox News Digital permission to publish the email.
She is the latest figure connected to Yale Athletics to come forward with alleged details of a negative experience under athletic director Victoria Chun’s leadership.
A letter signed by former Yale hockey coach Keith Allain addressed to Yale President Maurine McInnis, alleged that current Yale Athletic Director Victoria Chun has created a “toxic environment” for the university’s sports teams.
Fox News Digital published the letter last Monday after confirming with Allain that he sent the letter to McInnis via email in October, shortly after his retirement.
“My name is Keith Allain, I have just retired after 19 years as Mens Hockey Coach and I am writing to you at the urging of several head coaches in our Athletic Department. They told me that you were soliciting feedback from a few coaches regarding extending the contract of our athletic director, and are concerned, that with the culture of fear that permeates the athletic department, you will not receive candid feedback,” the letter began.
The letter later wrote, “Vicky’s singular talent is self promotion and has created a toxic environment within the department where she is insulated by a cadre of administrators whose main task seems to be silencing any dissent,” the letter continued.”
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Last Tuesday, Fox News Digital reported on emails that show a former Yale University administrator telling a lawyer of former Yale strength and conditioning coach Thomas Newman that he was recorded during a meeting.
“A former employee recorded a portion of a meeting with your client, without the university’s knowledge,” reads part of an email sent to Newman’s attorney, Alan Granovsky, from a Yale deputy general counsel, who now no longer works at the university.
The counsel’s email was sent in response to an Aug. 13, 2025, letter with the subject line “Ongoing Reputational Harm and Misstatements Regarding Thomas Newman.”
The counsel’s email also included the lines, “The university has not made any defamatory statements to anyone regarding your client,” and “The university did not disclose any medical information inappropriately, the university has not said that your client left the university involuntarily or is subject to an investigation.”
Newman’s attorneys at Granovsky & Sundaresh Employment law sent multiple emails to Yale regarding the issue and Newman’s ultimate departure from the university in 2021, which were provided by a source to Fox News Digital. Newman has confirmed to Fox News Digital that the emails were exchanged between his attorney and the university administrator.
Meanwhile, Kim Jones, the mother of three former Yale swimmers – two women’s and one men’s – and founder of the Indepedent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), alleged the athletic department “terrorized” female swimmers and “emasculated” the male swimmers, as both groups were made to compete with trans athletes of the opposite sex under Chun’s leadership.
Chun, a former volleyball player and later head coach for Colgate University, took over as Yale Athletic Director in 2018 after serving in the same position at Colgate from 2012-18.
In an interview earlier in March with the Yale Alumni Association, Chun admitted to making a mistake that made her cry in her first year as Yale AD.
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Over 54,000 fill the Yale Bowl for the second half of the 141st plays of “The Game” between the Yale Bulldogs and the Harvard Crimson on November 22, 2025 in New Haven, Connecticut. (Sean D. Elliot/Getty Images)
“I was talking to the football alums, you know, there’s this great helmet that I had at my previous institution. And I thought if Colgate can afford it, we definitely can afford it. So I announced, we are getting these coolest, custom-made Riddell Helmets. So then my deputy comes to me and says ‘What are you thinking? Do you know how much these helmets cost?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, we had them at Colgate.’ She goes, ‘Yeah, like six or seven of them,” Chun said in the interview.
“And I did cry. Because I thought, ‘Wow, this is going to be the shortest-lived athletic director,’ and, you know, here I am!”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Yale for comment but has not received a response.
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