The hazing scandal at Northwestern University has widened to include a volleyball player who on Monday became the first female athlete to sue the university over allegations of retaliation against her for reporting abuse. On the same day, a new lawsuit filed by former North West quarterback Lloyd Yates was also filed.
“It shows that it’s not just the men,” said Parker Stinar, one of the athlete’s lawyers. “It’s not just the footballers.
Northwestern is facing several lawsuits, including one on behalf of Yates, which alleges hazing including sexual abuse. The scandal is about a problem that seems to extend far beyond sport. While major college sports programs have become multimillion-dollar affairs, hazing seems to remain a problematic tradition within them.
“This is the first in a series of lawsuits,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump said, adding that he plans to file more than 30 over the next few weeks.
Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald has been fired after a college investigation uncovered allegations of hazing by 11 current or former players, including “forced attendance, nudity and sexualized acts of a degrading nature,” school president Michael Schill said. A previous lawsuit accuses Fitzgerald of enabling a culture of racism, including forcing players of color to cut their hair and behave differently to be more in tune with the “Wildcat Way.”
The volleyball player, identified in Monday’s lawsuit as Jane Doe, says she was physically injured to the point of needing medical attention during a hazing incident in early 2021.
According to the lawsuit, Jane Doe contracted Covid-19 in February this year, despite following the team’s pandemic guidelines. Despite this, she says, Northwestern volleyball coach Shane Davis and an assistant coach informed her that she should face “punishment” for breaking the guidelines. A day later, on March 2, 2021, the coaches allowed the volleyball team captains to choose the punishment. Jane Doe was forced to run sprints in the gymnasium while diving to the floor every time she hit a line on the court. As she did this, the suit said, the volleyball coaching staff, team members and coaches watched.
Campus police were notified of the incident, as was the athletic department, the lawsuit says. Jane Doe says she was isolated from the team and Davis forced her to write a letter of apology to the coaches. The lawsuit also says the player met with athletic director Derrick Gragg to discuss the culture of the volleyball program, but he “did nothing in response” to her concerns.
Davis did not immediately respond Monday morning to messages seeking comment. Messages were also left for Gragg and an athletic department spokesperson.
Northwestern announced in December 2021 that it had signed Davis to a multi-year contract extension. A year later, in December 2022, Jane Doe retired medically from the sport.
North West spokesman Jon Yates confirmed the anonymous student made a hazing allegation in March 2021. Yates said after suspending the coaching staff during an investigation, which confirmed the hazing had taken place, two volleyball games were canceled and mandatory anti-hazing training was put in place.
“Although this incident predates President Schill and Athletic Director Gragg’s tenure at the university, everyone takes it seriously,” Yates said. “Dr. Gragg met with the student at her request last year, and as President Schill wrote in a message to the Northwestern community, the University is working to ensure we have appropriate accountability in place for our athletic department.”
The lawsuit was filed in Cook County, Illinois by the Chicago-based law firm Salvi and names as defendants Davis and Gragg as well as the university, its current and former presidents and board of trustees. The lawsuit also names Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner James J Phillips, who was Northwestern’s athletic director until 2021. Phillips, who has been named a defendant in two other lawsuits, said he never “concluded or tolerated inappropriate conduct” against athletes while he was Northwestern’s athletic director.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump plans to announce another lawsuit against Northwestern over allegations of hazing in its sports programs, with the latest lawsuit billed as containing “damning new details” about hazing and sexual abuse in its football program.
Fitzgerald, who coached Northwestern for 17 seasons and was a star linebacker for the Wildcats, maintained he had no knowledge of hazing. Fitzgerald said after being fired that he was working with his agent, Bryan Harlan, and his attorney, Dan Webb, to “protect my rights in accordance with the law.”
The hazing allegations have extended beyond the school’s football program, with attorneys saying last week that male and female athletes had reported misconduct in its baseball and softball programs. They also suggested that sexual abuse and racial discrimination within the football program was so widespread that coaches knew it was happening.
Crump’s notice for Monday’s press conference says the suit will identify “a North West football coach who allegedly witnessed the hazing and sexual behavior and did not report it.”
Northwestern has been added to a long list of US universities to deal with an athletics scandal and could possibly join the trend of making large payouts over sex abuse allegations.