Oregon Public Broadcasting

The principal at Portland's Grant High School commented further Tuesday on a reported assault involving six basketball players at the school.

Rob Manning / OPB

Grant High School Principal Vivian Orlen

Principal Vivian Orlen has called the incident an "altercation." She suspended four students as a result of it, and later expelled one of them.

The incident also prompted the sex crimes unit of the Portland Police Bureau to open an investigation at Grant.

Orlen appeared on OPB's Think Out Loud program Tuesday. Host David Miller asked Orlen how she would characterize the incident.

David Miller: "Was what happened on January 12th, a sexual assault?"

Vivian Orlen: "No, it was not."

Orlen said she would not describe it as "hazing" either. But she says the school's own investigation following that incident has turned up what she called "initiation rituals and/or hazing-like behaviors" involving students.

Think Out Loud - Grant High School Hazing Incident