NU Hazing Lawsuits Start Of 'College Sports' Me Too Movement': Lawyer

EVANSTON, IL — Former Northwestern quarterback Lloyd Yates says has struggled for years with the hazing and harassment he said he endured during his three-year playing career in Evanston. But now, a week after multiple lawsuits began being filed against the university in connection with what attorneys say was "ritualized sexual hazing," the Oak Park native and Northwestern legacy student is the first plaintiff to identify himself as a victim in a complaint against the school.

On Monday, Yates filed the first of what civil rights attorney Ben Crump said will be more than 30 lawsuits that will be brought by him and two other Chicago attorneys against Northwestern in the coming weeks and months. The filings, Crump said Monday, will signal the start of the "college sports #MeToo Movement" that he hopes will drive change at Northwestern and other universities.

Yates' three-count lawsuit filed against the university alleges negligence, willful and wanton disregard for player safety and well-being and violation of Illinois’ Gender Violence Act. Asked why certain administrators and Fitzgerald were not named as defendants in the suit, attorneys for Yates said it is because hazing "is an institutional problem" at Northwestern.

Other lawsuits filed in recent days names Fitzgerald, along with Northwestern President Michael Schill, athletic director Derrick Gragg, the school's Board of Trustees and former athletic director Jim Phillips as defendants.

The allegations outlined in the 52-page complaint filed on Monday detail disturbing acts of hazing and physical and sexual assault including allegations of players being dry-humped that athletes at the school were forced to endure as part of activities that had been "engrained" at Northwestern for decades, attorneys said.

In addition to detailing hazing and harassment, the complaint names Northwestern assistant football coach Mac McPherson as a former member of Fitzgerald's staff who allegedly witnessed the hazing and failed to act, the suit states.

The complaint also alleges that two former Northwestern assistant coaches were victims of hazing themselves, including an unnamed former strength and conditioning coach who was "ran" as part of activities that Yates said on Monday were part of a "brainwashing culture."

MacPherson, along with current Northwestern strength coach Jay Hooten — who is also named in the complaint for his behavior — remains on staff with interim coach David Braun. The complaint states that MacPherson witnessed players being forced to do naked pull-ups and other forms of hazing. Hooten reportedly tricked Yates into saying his teammates had been out partying. Hooten then told his teammates that Yates had “ratted them out,” which resulted in him getting “run” in the locker room.

In a news conference on Monday in Chicago, attorneys described the "vast, homoerotic and violent nature" of the sexual hazing and sexual abuse in the Northwestern football program. Characterizing some activities as too graphic, attorneys said the complaint against Northwestern details "ritualistic" behavior that included the “Carwash,” “Kenosha Rap Battle” “Belly Flop Contest,” and “Shrek Squad."

Much of the allegations are similar to those first detailed in a Daily Northwestern story that led Schill to fire Fitzgerald after initially suspending him without pay for two weeks. Fitzgerald, in response, has indicated he will instruct his agent, Bryan Harlan, and attorney Dan Webb to take whatever actions they need to protect his rights.

Fitzgerald signed a 10-year contract extension in 2021 worth more than $50 million. Attorneys said that members of Northwestern's coaching staff have reached out to former players since Fitzgerald's firing asking for support for the long-time coach and former standout linebacker.

Attorneys described naked rope swings, naked pull-ups, and other team activities that players were forced to endure and that Yates said on Monday that players were conditioned to believe were normal.

While many of the team activities involved nudity, one post-practice activity called "The Dredge" in which hazing including excessive alcohol intoxication and drinking games was "not optional" the complaint states. Often, Yates' attorneys said that the activities were organized by Northwestern coaches and that if players refused to participate they would "get ran."

According to the complaint, a “run” or “running” consists of a group of players forcibly holding down a non-consenting teammate and rubbing their genital areas against the teammate’s genitals, face and buttocks while rocking back and forth without consent from the teammate.

In one instance, the lawsuit alleges that another player was dunked upside down in an ice bath while other players “ran” him while he was naked, upside down with his head underwater. When it was over, the player was clearly struggling physically to breathe.

Despite having an anti-hazing policy in place and despite Fitzgerald recording public service announcements denouncing hazing and trumpeting his "zero tolerance" policy, the activities within the Northwestern program were allowed to continue.

"In reality, there was no system to enforce the policy or to monitor these activities and the university failed these student-athletes in not protecting them," attorney Margaret Battersby Black said at the Monday news conference.

Although Yates said on Monday that much of the hazing took place off campus during Northwestern's preseason camp in Kenosha, Wis., the former scholarship student said that "abuse took place year-round."

By issuing a report that came out of a six-month independent investigation into hazing allegations, attorneys said that Northwestern has "already admitted" that "years of repeated ritualized sexual hazing" took place within the school's athletic program.

In addition to Yates, two former Northwestern football players are quoted in the complaint including one player who was a minor when he was first sexually abused and suffered an injury as a result of the violent hazing. In graphic and damning detail, attorneys said that the complaint provides example after example of the “vast, homoerotic and violent nature of the sexual hazing and sexual abuse in the Northwestern football program.”

In the news conference last week, Yates and former Northwestern players Warren Miles Long, who played running back at Northwestern between 2013-18, linebacker Simba Short (2016-17), and Tom Carnifax, a tight end who played at the school between 2016-19, appeared with the two attorneys detailing how they were abused and how they lived in fear about what would happen if they spoke out.

"No teammate I knew liked hazing — we were all victims no matter what our role was at the time," Yates, a quarterback and wide receiver from 2016-18 said at the news conference last week. "But the culture was so strong that we felt like we had to go with it to survive, to be respected, and to earn the trust within the football program."

He added: "Normalizing this culture became a necessity."

Yates' father said that before his son chose Northwestern, coaches from the program gave him "a pledge of allegiance" to protect him at all costs. His parents wanted to see Yates transition into independent adulthood while playing a sport he loved.

But, Yates' father, Dr. Bill Yates, says his son and his teammates were exploited and sexually harassed "in a way that is even hard for me to describe" and that took place in an environment where the behavior was commonplace.

"It was almost invisible," Dr. Yates said on Monday.

Yates said on Monday that although coming forward likely sets himself to criticism, he feels the need to bring attention to the matter with hopes of future athletes avoiding hazing and harassment. He said in coming forward along with other former athletes who have filed suit, "we are finally holding Northwestern accountable."

He said he wants justice for all of the hazing victims and seeks closure for himself and others who have dealt with the long-term ramifications of the abuse they say they "suffered in silence."

"Too often, we have blamed ourselves for things that were beyond our control," Yates said.

"Northwestern failed to protect us and I hope this lawsuit ensures that Northwestern will protect future generations of student-athletes."

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