Ex-Northwestern AD To 'Vigorously Defend' Himself In Hazing Lawsuits

EVANSTON, IL — Former Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips has vowed to “vigorously defend” himself against allegations that he allowed hazing to take place within the school’s athletic department after being named in a pair of lawsuits filed by former Northwestern athletes this week.

Phillips, now the Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner, was named in two lawsuits that were filed by former Northwestern athletes on Wednesday and Thursday. The allegations included in the suits allege that the athletes were victims of hazing that included physical and sexual assault.

Phillips, who was Northwestern’s athletic director from 2008 until 2021, is named in the lawsuits along with current administrators including Northwestern President Michael Schill and athletic director Derrick Gragg. Also named in two of the lawsuits is former Northwestern President Morton Schapiro along with the university’s Board of Trustees.

On Friday, two more lawsuits were filed by former Northwestern football players, who allege that they were exposed to abuse and hazing upon their arrival at the school. The players also allege that if they spoke up about the hazing, they feared retaliation in the form of loss of playing time and other forms of punishment.

“This has been a difficult time for the Northwestern University community, a place that my entire family called home,” Phillips said in the statement that was issued on Thursday. “Over my 30-year career in intercollegiate athletics, my highest priority has always been the health and safety of all student-athletes.

“Hazing is completely unacceptable anywhere, and my heart goes out to anyone who carries the burden of having been mistreated. Any allegation that I ever condoned or tolerated inappropriate conduct against student-athletes is absolutely false. I will vigorously defend myself against any suggestion to the contrary.”

All of the Northwestern lawsuits filed this week have either been filed by players who are remaining anonymous or who are listed as John Doe. On Wednesday, civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Chicago-based attorney Steve Levin announced that a lawsuit including several former Northwestern athletes will be filed in the near future.

On Wednesday, attorney Patrick Salvi II said that lawsuits filed by his firm will include athletes who played football, softball, men's soccer, and volleyball at Northwestern. Crump said his lawsuit will also include baseball players.

Both have said the lawsuit is not directed at one particular person, namely former Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald, who was fired on July 10. But both attorneys said that hazing took place as part of a university culture that allowed it to happen despite the school having anti-hazing policies in place.

In regard to Phillips specifically, Salvi said at a news conference that the former athletics administrator’s time in Evanston overlapped with when the alleged abuse took place.

“It’s not just one coach,” Salvi said at the news conference on Wednesday. “It’s an athletic department, possibly a president, that allowed this to go on for years and failed to take appropriate action to protect young individuals from traumatic events in their life.”

Salvi said on Friday that he and his co-counsel Parker Stinar of the Stinar Law Firm believe that they are likely just scratching the surface as to how widespread this misconduct was throughout Northwestern’s athletic department."

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