Allegations Of Sexualized Hazing At Northwestern Detailed In New Suits

EVANSTON, IL — Three more former members of the Northwestern University football team filed lawsuits this week in Cook County Circuit Court alleging that former coach Pat Fitzgerald and university officials were aware of rampant violent hazing and sexual abuse on the team.

The latest ex-players to sue their alma mater include former Wildcats linebacker Nathan Fox, who went to Northwestern from 2015 to 2019, John Doe 10, who attended from 2019 to 2023 and John Doe 22, who attended from 2020 to 2023.

According to Fox's suit, Fitzgerald learned in September 2022 of a note which had been left in the Walter Athletic Facility asserting that "freshmen were being raped in the football locker room."

The head football coach did nothing in response, and the school failed to follow "the adequate protocols."

Northwestern President Michael Schill previously described an "anonymous complaint from a student-athlete in November 2022" that triggered an internal investigation and a brief suspension for Fitzgerald.

Schill changed course and fired Fitzgerald when details of some of the allegations were publicly reported by the school newspaper in a decision that, according to the suit, was supported by a "vast majority" of university trustees.

Fitzgerald responded with a lawsuit demanding $130 million for breach of contract and his emotional distress, among other things.

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Fox's complaint describes a culture of violent sexual abuse and hazing at the football team's Camp Kenosha training camp.

The film character "Shrek" allegedly played a prominent role in the pattern of abuse.

"New members of the team were required by upperclassmen to watch an animated video of a man who recalls his love of the animated character 'Shrek' in which the child’s father calls him a homophobic slur and the man recalls that as a nine-year-old, he had an explicit sexual encounter with 'Shrek' in his bedroom," the complaint said.

A large group of players called the "Shrek Squad" would don horror movie or animal masks. Some would go topless, others would wear shirts with holes cut out over their nipples or wear thongs, the complaint said.

The group would hunt down players and torment them, picking them up and then engaging in a sexualized hazing ritual called "running," which consisted of holding players down and rubbing their genitals on their teammates, face, buttocks and genital area, according to Fox's suit.

Other forms of sexualized hazing described in the suit include the "Car Wash," in which up to 20 naked upperclassmen would line up and sing the 1976 Rose Royce song while smothering new players with soap and forcing them "to walk penis to penis or penis to butt with the players on the walk between them," sometimes urinating on them.

The suit also alleges a series of mandatory naked athletic activities were part of the culture under Fitzgerald's watch, including push ups, pull ups, rope swings and various football-themed drills.

Fox was outspoken about hazing on the team during his time at Northwestern, but instead of support he faces apparent retaliation from school staff, according to the complaint.

In 2016, having admitted to team medical staff that he had smoke marijuana on a single occasion, Fox was required to speak with a school psychologist, who informed him after a few visits that "although he had self-reported that he had only used marijuana once, he was a drug addict who needed to attend an in-patient rehab facility." During those sessions, school psychologist Courtney Albinson "disregarded" his claims about hazing, according to the suit.

In 2018, staff required Fox to see another staffer from Northwestern's Counseling and Psychological Services, or CAPS, office. That time, therapist Julie Suttcliffe allegedly encouraged Fox to sign paperwork waiving his medical confidentiality so she could inform athletic staff about the hazing on the team. He was then called out by coaching staff, the suit alleges.

The same year, another psychologist — the fifth NU employee to whom he had reported hazing on the football team — informed him that he suffered from depressive bipolar disorder, "a disorder no other medical professional had ever (or has since) diagnosed" him with, it alleges.

That psychologist, Betina Frankel, prescribed Fox medication that left him with mental fogginess, memory loss, suicidal thoughts and, eventually, standing on a balcony contemplating jumping, his suit said.

Then, in 2019, after quitting the prescription drugs, Fox met with psychologist Henry Perkins and described the culture of hazing on the football team.

"Alright that’s enough," Perkins allegedly said in response, "we need to get you the hell out of here!”

Fox eventually left Northwestern and did not report the conduct out of fear that the coaching staff would prevent him from finishing his college football career elsewhere.

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Last year, Fox learned about the university's first internal investigation into hazing program, led by Maggie Hickey, and contacted her. They spoke several times during her investigation regarding hazing in the football program.

And it was not just players in the Northwestern football program who were allegedly targeted for sexualized hazing.

"On more than one occasion, assistant coaches were 'ran' by players," according to the complaint.

"During his time on the NU football team, Nathan [Fox] witnessed multiple occasions where players would do the 'snake' which occurred whenever any male athletic coach or trainer would enter the locker room. When they entered, the players would yell 'snake' and try to grab the staff members genitals."

The perpetrators of the hazing, having been hazed themselves as freshmen, were under the impression that such abuse was acceptable and normal, it said.

"Therefore, they believed that they were hazing at the direction of the University football program and that the hazing would further the ends of the team," according to the suit.

The former linebacker's 11-count complaint alleges negligence, willful and wanton misconduct, violation of the gender violence act, both negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress separately against Northwestern and Fitzgerald and one count of fraudulent concealment against them both.

It cites several reasons that the allegations should not be time-barred by the statute of limitation, including threats by perpetrators of sexual conduct, fraudulent concealment and repressed memory.

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In the past two years, more than two dozen former students have filed hazing-related lawsuits against Northwestern.

A judge last month consolidated the hazing lawsuits and Fitzgerald's lawsuit over his termination after settlement negotiations with the former players broke down. A request from Fitzgerald to move his trial date forward was denied, and so now all the cases could be headed to trial as soon as April 2025.

Northwestern has a policy against commenting on pending litigation.

Fitzgerald's attorney, Dan Webb, previously said he doubted any "real hazing" ever happened at Northwestern and characterized the allegations as "horseplay."

"The fact he was terminated based on no rational reasons or facts whatsoever — the fact they've gone out and destroyed his reputation as one of the best football coaches in America based on no legitimate reason or evidence is disgraceful," Webb said at a news conference announcing Fitzgerald's suit. "It's despicable conduct on behalf of Northwestern University."

Margaret Batterbsy Black, attorney for the new plaintiffs, said in a statement that Northwestern officials only took action after John Doe 22, who reported the conduct on two occasions, emailed a compliance employee in the athletic department.

"It is abundantly clear to us that numerous staff members knew about the violent sexual hazing and emotional abuse that was occurring under Northwestern’s watch," Black said.

"Employees were told about the abusive hazing by some of the players including Nathan Fox, who brought the abuse to their attention years before the Maggie Hickey investigation. Instead of doing the right thing and reporting the abuse or taking steps to stop it, those who knew either ignored it or retaliated against those who came forward," she said.

Black called on the university and Fitzgerald to "acknowledge and answer for" the hazing to bring to an end the "shameful era" in the school's history.

"The football program’s sickening and systematic culture of violent sexual and emotional abuse went on for years," she said, "and pushed numerous players to self-harm, contemplate suicide, and endure serious mental trauma and illness."

Earlier:
Pat Fitzgerald's $130 Million Gridiron Grievances Survive Northwestern Motion To Dismiss
2 More Former Northwestern Football Players Sue Over Hazing Allegations
Northwestern Hazing Lawsuits Start Of 'College Sports' Me Too Movement,' Plaintiff's Attorney Says
Northwestern Fires Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald Over Hazing Scandal