CHICAGO — Another lawsuit was filed Wednesday against Northwestern University by a former football player, alleging that ex-coach Pat Fitzgerald took part in hazing and bullying athletes.
The plaintiff, identified only as John Doe 2, was a student from 2018 to 2022.
Meanwhile, four other former football players gathered Wednesday behind attorneys Ben Crump and Steve Levin at a morning news conference and detailed their experience with the alleged hazing. The attorneys described another forthcoming lawsuit that includes 15 players on the university’s football, baseball and softball teams, Crump said. More are expected to join, he added.
Like the suit filed Tuesday on behalf of John Doe 1, another former football player, the complaint by John Doe 2 does not specify actions against the plaintiffs, but alleges long-standing issues of hazing and bullying that took on a sexual or racist tone.
Those actions include “running” freshman players by having 10 or so players “dry-hump” them; having one naked player reach under another to take a football; and a “car wash,” in which naked players spin in the shower room while other naked players run through them while being sprayed with a hose.
Players also were forced to drink as many Gatorade shakes as they could in 10 minutes, or else they were threatened with being “run.”
The signal for such abuse was an over-the-head clap called the “Shrek clap,” which the suit alleges Fitzgerald did publicly.
The suits allege negligence for failing to protect the players, and willful and wanton misconduct because the defendants knew or should have known and prevented the abuse.
Other defendants include university President Michael Schill, former school President Morton Shapiro, the university board of trustees, athletic director Derrick Gragg, and former athletic director James Phillips.
The scandal broke July 7 when the university released an executive summary of an investigation of a student-athlete complaint of hazing in November 2022. The summary found that participation in or knowledge of the hazing was “widespread” in the football program” and “largely supported by the evidence,” with complaints dating back to 2014.
The next day, the student newspaper The Daily Northwestern reported that two players described the hazing acts.
Schill initially suspended Fitzgerald for two weeks, but after details of the hazing emerged, he fired the coach.
On July 13, the university dismissed Jim Foster as head baseball coach amid allegations of bullying and abusive behavior.
