Civil Rights Attorney Crump To Represent 8 Northwestern Hazing Victims

EVANSTON, IL — Eight former Northwestern football players are now being represented by a Chicago civil rights attorney who said that the players were exposed to "a vast array of incidents of abuse", were forced to participate in humiliating acts, and were exposed to racial bias, and suffered sexual abuse and psychological trauma as part of the hazing scandal that cost longtime coach Pat Fitzgerald his job, the law firm announced on Sunday.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and attorneys from the Chicago-based law firm of Levin & Perconti will represent the players and said in a news release on Sunday that he expects more players will join the suit in the coming days. The legal action is also expected to expand beyond Northwestern’s program and will, Crump said, expose “extreme and abusive hazing in other college athletic programs as well.

Crump said that one of the players involved was a minor at the time that the abuse took place and was 17 years old when the hazing occurred. According to a spokesperson for Crump's law firm, a lawsuit involving the former players has yet to be filed.

“Whether the coaches at Northwestern approved or participated in the harassment of these players or not, they are responsible for allowing and enabling a toxic, disgusting, and damaging culture in their programs,” Crump said in the news release. “Sadly, our research suggests that this kind of abuse of student-athletes may be far more common on college campuses than we know because there is tremendous pressure to keep quiet. It’s time for a reckoning to protect young athletes.”

The fallout from the hazing scandal has lasted more than a week after Northwestern President Michael Schill first announced a two-week unpaid suspension for Fitzgerald. However, two days after an explosive Daily Northwestern report detailed reports of sexual assault and coerced sexual acts as part of punishment handed out for mistakes made in practice, Fitzgerald — Northwestern’s coach since 2006 — was fired on July 10.

Neither Schill nor athletic director Derrick Gragg has spoken publicly about the firing or about the details of a six-month investigation that showed evidence of widespread hazing within Northwestern’s program.

Allegations include forced naked acts, termed "bear-crawls," "car-wash," and “under-center snap” all of which players were forced to do while naked, according to the Daily Northwestern reports. However, Crump said that perhaps the most concerning is a ritual known as "running," where eight to ten upperclassmen wearing masks would restrain a player and "dry-hump" them in front of the rest of the team.

Other incidents include the "Gatorade Shake Challenge," causing physical discomfort to the extent of sickness and vomiting. Furthermore, at least three former players have alleged a culture of racism within the program, with black coaches and players pressured to cut off longer hairstyles to fit the "Wildcat Way”, Crump said.

“These former Northwestern football players are participating in this legal action because they want to support and validate the allegations of abuse made by the two players who spoke to the Daily Northwestern about the true nature of the so-called hazing. They believe that more stringent oversight and accountability are required in college athletics to prevent such abuses from happening to other players in the future,” Steve Levin, founding partner of Levin & Perconti, said in a news release. “The physical, emotional and sexual abuse not only violated Northwestern's own policies, but also numerous laws, and worse, has led to irreparable harm, with some players even experiencing suicidal thoughts.”

Levin, who did not immediately return a message to Patch seeking comment on Monday, told ESPN that the legal action is not about Fitzgerald, but instead, about Northwestern as an institution.

"Northwestern itself, based on an investigation that they commissioned, apparently felt that certain administrators at the university should have known about what happened," Levin told ESPN on Monday. "We also know that if something has occurred this long over this period of time, involving this many students, it seems reasonable to assume that someone either knew or should have known. It's distracting from the institution to try to pin this on one individual. It's a systemic problem at the university."

The attorneys representing the eight players also have called out Northwestern for a lack of transparency in the scandal. Schill said in announcing Fitzgerald’s firing that the contents of the independent investigation will remain confidential and that he would only release an executive summary. In doing so, he said that at least 11 former Northwestern players confirmed the allegations brought forward in the Daily Northwestern story.

Fitzgerald maintains he did not know about the hazing going on in his program and has said that he plans to pursue legal action to protect his rights. Fitzgerald, who earned $5.3 million per year, signed a 10-year contract extension in 2021.

“For many of the players, their exposure to this abusive culture began when they were being recruited at ages 16 or 17. They were just kids at that time,” Margaret Battersby Black, managing partner at Levin & Perconti said in a news release. “The school and its football coaches induced the parents to send their children to Northwestern because they were falsely assured the university and the coaching staff would look out for them and protect them. Unfortunately, that was not the case.”

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