Lawyers for former Northwestern athletes announced two benchmark lawsuits against the university on Monday as part of its sprawling hazing scandal: the first by a woman athlete and the first by a player willing to be named. That player was former football player, Lloyd Yates, a Wildcats quarterback and receiver from 2015–17. That brings the total number of suits against the school in recent days to five, with lawyers promising several more. Collectively, the lawyers and former athletes have alleged that Northwestern fostered a culture rife with discrimination, harassment and hazing.
The woman athlete played volleyball for Northwestern and cited a hazing incident that occurred in the spring of 2021. Her suit is the first brought by a non-football player and names as defendants current president Michael Schill, former president Morton Schapiro, the school’s board of trustees, athletic director Derrick Gragg, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips (formerly athletic director at Northwestern) and former head volleyball coach Shane Davis.
The volleyball player’s lawyers, Pat Salvi II and Parker Stinar of Chicago-based Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, also claimed to know of harassment and hazing issues within the softball program, but have not yet provided evidence backing those claims. The complaint alleges that the volleyball program has had “longstanding issues involving hazing, harassment, bullying, and retaliation,” and that Davis, the coach, not only bullied players but also bragged about doing so at previous coaching stops. Davis did not respond to a request for comment.
