Northwestern football’s shocking hazing scandal, explained

The Northwestern football program has found itself in the middle of a major scandal involving hazing, sexual harassment and potential oversight by not only the Northwestern coaching staff, but the entire athletic department for over three years.

Here is a full timeline of all the events leading up to where we are today.

CW: This story contains details of sexual harassment and assault

According to the Daily Northwestern’s Skye Swann, Northwestern announced in January that an independent investigator would lead the investigation of a hazing incident within the football program. The investigation stems from an anonymous claim made in November. Maggie Hickey would be the leader of said investigation. Hickey, according to the Daily Northwestern, “co-leads the ArentFox, Schiff firm’s Complex Litigation Group and Government Enforcement & White Collar Group, which focuses on internal investigations.”

On July 7, Northwestern announced that head football coach Pat Fitzgerald would be suspended for two weeks without pay as a result of an investigation into alleged hazing within the football program.

In addition to the two-week suspension given to Fitzgerald, the Wildcat football team was forced to end their training camp practices at “Camp Kenosha”, an off-site camp in Kenosha, WI. In addition, someone who doesn’t report to the coaching staff has to be present, to monitor the locker room and act as a hazing reporting tool. Coaches and players will also have to do anti-hazing training.

Now, let’s go back to that two-week suspension for Fitzgerald. According to the results of the investigation, there wasn’t sufficient evidence to say that the coaches were both aware and complicit in the hazing, but that there were “significant opportunities [for coaches] to discover and report the hazing conduct.” (Per Daily Northwestern). Northwestern president Michael Schiff didn’t find enough evidence of Fitzgerald or the coaching staff knowing of the hazing, resulting in the two-week suspension.

Nicole Markus, Alyce Brown, Cole Reynolds and Divya Bhardwaj of the Daily Northwestern released a story July 8 with details of the alleged hazing that took place within the Northwestern football program, coming from a former player with a second former player confirming the allegations.

The hazing that took place centered around a phrase called “running”, where according to the former player, a student-athlete that made a mistake in practice “would be restrained by a group of 8-10 upperclassmen dressed in various “Purge-like” masks, who would then begin “dry-humping” the victim in a dark locker room.”

The player said that this was prevalent around the holidays, where “Runsgiving and “Runsmas” would take place, and a whiteboard with a list of players under the phrase “Runsgiving” and “Shrek’s list” would be seen. “Running” would be signified by players clapping their hands above the player, in what was called a “Shrek Clap”.

“It’s a shocking experience as a freshman to see your fellow freshman teammates get ran, but then you see everybody bystanding in the locker room,” the player said. “It’s just a really abrasive and barbaric culture that has permeated throughout that program for years on end now.” (per the Daily Northwestern)

According to The Daily, the player also said that Fitzgerald may have known about the hazing that took place.

According to the player that came to The Daily, Fitzgerald would repeatedly make the gesture, specifically towards freshmen. This was seen as deliberate encouragement to continue the hazing.

Louie Vaccher of Wildcat Report confirmed on July 9 with multiple staffers who remained anonymous on Sunday that the “running” and “car washes” existed and happened to players in the locker room. According to Vaccher, “none of the staffers could confirm whether Fitzgerald was aware of these practices, but all of them expressed the idea that if they were aware of them, it was difficult to believe that coaches were not.”

ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg also released a story on July 9 detailing the allegations of hazing within the program. The former player who spoke with The Daily Northwestern also spoke with Rittenberg, telling ESPN that Fitzgerald would encourage the running and participate in the clapping that resulted in being put on the “Shrek list”.

“He would be smiling menacingly at the individual who messed up, while simultaneously clapping his hands over his head in the specific manner, i.e., our head coach communicating that this individual did something wrong and needs to be put on the list and hazed accordingly. The vast majority of the team would then join in, following Fitz’s lead,” the former player said. (per ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg)

Rittenberg also spoke to a current player who remained anonymous, who said that the former player making these allegations informed him of his plan to “take down” Fitzgerald. The current player said that none of the stuff that is alleged happened in the locker room, and that the current player wanted to get Fitzgerald out of the program. The current player also said, regarding the clapping, that the team engages in slow clapping at the beginning of practice, but according to him, Fitzgerald never engaged in the clapping.

Bradley Locker, co-editor in chief at Inside NU, reported that a former Northwestern football player who graduated in 2007, said that the football team engaged in the hazing activities detailed by the Daily Northwestern.

Late on July 8, representatives of the Northwestern football team penned an open letter in support of Fitzgerald, saying that Fitzgerald wasn’t involved and didn’t know about any of the allegations that were levied against him and the football program.

“Northwestern Football players DO NOT tolerate hazing. We want to reiterate that as representatives of the Northwestern Football program, we do not tolerate hazing in any form,” the letter says.

“Hazing goes against our values of respect, integrity, and personal growth. We are committed to fostering a supportive and inclusive environment that promotes the well-being and development of every individual on our team.”

On July 9, near midnight, Northwestern president Michael Schill released an email concerning the results of the stories done by the Daily Northwestern and ESPN. “After reviewing the report, I assessed a two-week suspension for Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald, which went into effect immediately,” Schill said in the email. “However, upon reflection, I believe I may have erred in weighing the appropriate sanction for Coach Fitzgerald.”

In the email, Schill said that he spoke with the player who came forward with the allegations as well as his family and apologized to the player and family on behalf of Northwestern. Schill also said that he would be speaking with university leaders, the board of trustees and the faculty senate and would keep the Northwestern community abreast of any decisions that are made.

Follow Inside NU for more details concerning this scandal, and this story will be updated as we learn more.

In a story done by the Daily Northwestern, three players have come forward describing a “culture of enabling racism” among the Northwestern football program. Former offensive lineman Ramon Diaz Jr., a linemen for Northwestern from 2005-2008, said he experienced racial hostility while being a member of the Northwestern football program.

“I didn’t feel like I could be anything other than white,” Diaz told The Daily. “We never felt like we could be ourselves. We had to fit in by being white or acting white or laughing at our own people.”

In addition, his time as a player and experiencing this may have contributed to severe mental health issues post-graduation.

Furthermore, a Black player who played on the Northwestern team also experienced racism. This player, who asked to remain anonymous, played through the 2009 season according to the Daily, and said that Fitzgerald and the Northwestern coaching staff made Black players cut their hair, including dreadlocks, to be in step with the “Wildcat Way”.

Fitzgerald declined to comment on the allegations.

According to multiple sources at The Athletic and ESPN, Northwestern has fired head coach Pat Fitzgerald.

In the aftermath of Coach Fitzgerald’s firing, multiple former football players have come forward with more accusations, not only naming Fitzgerald as a defendant, but former Athletic Director Jim Phillips. Attorney Benjamin Crump was hired to represent these former athletes, and as of today, there are five additional lawsuits levied against Fitzgerald and the university.

In these lawsuits, details of the hazing, sexual assault and harassment are released, with coaches being accused of knowing about them yet failing to do anything (Content warning: the following contains descriptions of hazing and assault).

In addition, lawsuits are coming in against the Northwestern athletic department across other sports as well. A former Northwestern volleyball player is suing the university and the volleyball program for hazing, stemming from a “punishment run” where she was left injured and told current AD Derrick Gragg. Nothing happened.

Northwestern president Michael Schill has released a statement in light of all of these accusations.