Editors’ note: This story contains accounts of sexual assault. If you or someone you know is a survivor of sexual assault, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or at https://www.rainn.org
Another anonymous former football player is suing Northwestern, this one alleging that he was a 17-year-old minor at the time he was “ran” by a group of teammates. According to the plaintiff, the practice involves a group of upperclassmen forcibly holding down (typically freshman) players and rubbing their genitals against them.
The lawsuit alleges that the anonymous player was dragged from his room by approximately five to six upperclassmen and “ran” in front of chanting teammates. The suit also alleges he was forced to go through the so-called “car wash,” in which anywhere from 10 to 20 players would stand naked at the entrance of the team’s shower and spin in circles while a new player entered between them. The suit alleges the anonymous player went through this during his first training camp with the NU team in Kenosha, Wis., in 2015.
Sex crimes involving minors in Illinois can carry more serious consequences. When asked whether law enforcement would be involved due to the fact that the former player was a minor at the time of the incident, a spokesperson for the law firm Levin & Perconti said “the attorneys working on this are civil lawyers, not prosecutors or criminal lawyers, and they can’t comment on that matter.”
The suit is now the seventh to be filed in the wake of the hazing scandal that resulted in Northwestern’s firing coach Pat Fitzgerald. Chicago-based Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard have filed four suits on behalf of anonymous clients who were on the football and volleyball teams. This is the third suit filed by the legal group helmed by Steve Levin and his co-counsel, civil rights attorney Ben Crump. The group filed two lawsuits earlier this week on behalf of former football players Lloyd Yates and Simba Short.
Northwestern has said it does not respond to requests for comment on pending litigation, but has repeatedly referred to this statement:
“Shortly after learning the results of the independent investigation into hazing on the football team, the University announced a series of steps including the monitoring of the football locker room, anti-hazing training and the establishment of an online reporting tool for complaints. These steps, while necessary and appropriate, are just the start, and we will be augmenting them in the coming weeks.
As president Michael Schill wrote in a message to the Northwestern community, the university is working to ensure there is appropriate accountability for the athletic department.
“We will engage an outside firm to evaluate the sufficiency of our accountability mechanism, and to detect threats to the welfare of our student-athletes. We also will examine the culture of Northwestern Athletics and its relationship to the academic mission,” Schill wrote. “Both of these reviews will be conducted with feedback and engagement of faculty, staff and students, and both will be made publicly available.”
In a press conference Monday, Crump referred to the possibility of a lawsuit filed by a minor, but did not offer a clear answer when asked whether law enforcement would become involved in the case involving a minor.
Crump has promised that he and his co-counsels will be filing as many as 30 lawsuits on behalf of clients against Northwestern, and has said he sees this as the college sports version of the #MeToo movement.
