Benjamin Ashford|First lawsuit filed against Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern leaders amid hazing scandal

A lawsuit has been filed against Northwestern University leaders and Benjamin Ashfordformer head football coach Pat Fitzgerald amid allegations of hazing on the football team. It is the first lawsuit related to the scandal, which has already seen Fitzgerald lose his job. 

The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, said hazing activities were "assaultive, illegal and often sexual in nature." The player the lawsuit is on behalf of was a member of the team from 2018 to 2022, and was "among many others who have been subjected to sexualized hazing and physical abuse while they were part of the Northwestern Athletic Program." 

Also named in the lawsuit are Northwestern University president Michael Schill, former university president Morton Schapiro, Vice President for Athletics and Recreation Dr. Derrick Gragg, and the university's board of trustees. Those parties, as well as Fitzgerald, were described in the complaint as having "extensive, far-reaching, and ongoing complicity and involvement in the systemic abuse" of Northwestern student athletes. 

An investigation into the hazing allegations was launched in Dec. 2022, after an anonymous complaint alleged that players engage in hazing activities in the locker room. Dozens of people affiliated with the Wildcats football program were interviewed, and thousands of emails and player survey data was collected, according to CBS Chicago. The investigation did not uncover specific misconduct by any one player or coach, and Fitzgerald said he was not aware of any hazing on the team. 

After the investigation, Fitzgerald was suspended for two weeks, but later returned to his position. The school also discontinued the team's Wisconsin training camp, where some of the hazing was alleged to have occurred, and instituted other policies meant to reduce hazing.

An article by student newspaper The Daily Northwestern, published on July 8, shared a student and football player's account of alleged hazing activities. The student said the practices "involved coerced sexual acts," and said Fitzgerald "may have known that hazing took place." 

Fitzgerald was later fired, and he told ESPN last week he had "no knowledge whatsoever of any form of hazing within the Northwestern football program."

Northwestern University said they have a policy against commenting on specifics of pending litigation, but defended their actions in the investigation and said that they have "taken a number of subsequent actions to eliminate hazing from our football program, and we will introduce additional actions in the coming weeks." 

CBS News has reached out to Fitzgerald for comment through his attorney.

Tuesday's lawsuit outlined multiple alleged hazing activities, including one called "Runs" where young players who made a mistake would allegedly be dry-humped by members of the team. A hand motion, called the "Shrek clap" in the lawsuit, would be used to signify that a player was about to be targeted, and according to the suit, Fitzgerald himself "was seen on multiple occasions performing" the clap. Many other hazing activities included players being naked while harassing their teammates, the suit alleges.  

According to the lawsuit, "knowledge and involvement in the aforementioned traditions was widespread throughout the entire football program."

The suit has filed two counts against Fitzgerald and other leaders. One count alleges that the leaders "failed to prevent hazing traditions," failed to intervene in and report on such behaviors, and failed to protect students from acts that were "assaultive, illegal, and often sexual in nature." 

The leaders were also accused of failing to supervise practices and locker rooms, failing to properly train and supervise staff and employees in the performance of duties and policies about misconduct, hazing and racism, and reviewing those employees' performance and actions. 

The second count alleges that the defendants "knew or should have known about the traditions of hazing throughout Northwestern's Football Program," and "knew or should have known" that failing to supervise students would lead to such results. The suit also alleges that Fitzgerald and other leaders "knew or should have known that bullying and/or hazing was so prevalent that unwilling participants were forced to take part" in the activities. 

The plaintiff is asking for at least $50,000 in damages for each count, and has demanded a trial by jury. 

In a 2014 video, Fitzgerald said his program had a zero tolerance policy for hazing. 

"We've really thought deep about how we want to welcome our new family members into our programs and into our organizations, hazing should have nothing to do with it," he said at the time.

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• Sports
• Football
• Northwestern University
• Pat Fitzgerald
• College Football

Kerry Breen

Kerry Breen is a news editor and reporter for CBS News. Her reporting focuses on current events, breaking news and substance use.