More information about the alleged hazing incidents in the Northwestern football program have emerged that reportedly involved coerced sex acts between players.
An investigation into the allegations headed by Maggie Hickey of ArentFox Schiff, a former inspector general of Illinois, determined that the allegations were credible. The school subsequently suspended head coach Pat Fitzgerald for two weeks without pay and made several other changes to the football program to mitigate the problem.
But new and shocking details about the incidents have now been leveled by one current and one former player in the pages of the school’s student newspaper, the New York Post reported.
Northwestern Wildcats head coach Pat Fitzgerald speaks to his team after the Aer Lingus College Football Classic 2022 match between Northwestern Wildcats and Nebraska Cornhuskers at Aviva Stadium on August 27, 2022, in Dublin, Ireland. (Oisin Keniry/Getty Images)
The former player claimed that team members practiced what they called “running,” in which a player would be held down by a group of fellow students while they dry-humped him from behind.
“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, according to The Daily Northwestern.
“It’s just a really abrasive and barbaric culture that has permeated throughout that program for years on end now,” the player added.
The player added that it was common for players to be targeted by others when players gathered around a student and clapped their hands above the targeted student’s head.
The player also alleged that coach Fitzgerald knew about the hazing and approved of it.
“Everyone would just be looking at each other and be like, ‘Bro, Fitz knows about this,’ because you wouldn’t take that action otherwise,” the player insisted. “Everyone joins in because he’s the head coach.”
Head coach Pat Fitzgerald of the Northwestern Wildcats reacts after the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Ryan Field on October 18, 2019, in Evanston, Illinois. (Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
Another player insisted that students would stand naked, blocking the entrance to the showers, and engage in a “carwash” where players wishing to enter the showers would have to rub up against the blocking player to get in the showers. And a hose was used to harass naked players once they entered the shower.
“I’ve seen it with my own eyes and it’s just absolutely egregious and vile and inhumane behavior,” a student told the school newspaper.
Fitzgerald, though, posted a statement saying that he was “disappointed” by the hazing. And he pledged to double down on making sure it doesn’t happen again, adding, “We hold our student-athletes and our program to the highest standards; we will continue to work to exceed those standards moving forward.”
The investigation, which began in Dec. of last year, found that at least one hazing allegation was credible even though players’ stories conflicted. In her report, Maggie Hickey said that the hazing allegations were “largely supported by the evidence” and appeared to have happened at the team’s preseason training facility, dubbed “Camp Kenosha,” in 2020.
“The investigation did not uncover evidence pointing to specific misconduct by any individual football player or coach, participation in or knowledge of the hazing activities was widespread across football players,” the summary reads.
The school has taken several steps to stop the practice, including banning offseason practice at the Kenosha location, adding a new staffer who doesn’t report to the coaching staff to monitor the locker rooms, and creating an online reporting procedure for allegations of misconduct.
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