The Latest Breaking News from Hazing

The player, identified in the lawsuit as John Doe, alleged Tuesday in the Cook County Court that Fitzgerald, Northwestern University President Michael Schill, the board of trustees and athletic director Derrick Gragg enabled and concealed sexual misconduct and racial discrimination.

A former Northwestern football player filed the first lawsuit against Pat Fitzgerald and members of the school’s leadership, seeking damages stemming from a hazing scandal that cost the former football coach his job

With lawyers becoming involved, who knows what lies ahead in this scandal?

The team is set to lose its first player since the coach was fired over allegations of sexual hazing and racism within the program.

Eight former Northwestern University football players who say they were subjected to hazing are being represented for expected legal action by prominent attorney Ben Crump and the Chicago firm Levin & Perconti.

“Sadly, our research suggests that this kind of abuse of student athletes may be far more common on college campuses than we know, because there is tremendous pressure to keep quiet,” attorney Ben Crump said. “It’s time for a reckoning to protect young athletes.”

The school fired head coach Pat Fitzgerald last week following a hazing investigation.

The hazing scandal that led to coach Pat Fitzgerald’s firing has shone a harsh spotlight on the school.

CHICAGO — Repercussions from Northwestern University’s football hazing scandal have thrown the Big Ten school’s athletic department into upheaval in just a matter of days, spurring leadership shake-ups, football recruits decommitting from the team and concerns over possible legal action.

Voters supported the firing by a large margin, despite Fitzgerald’s claims that he was unaware of the alleged hazing in his program that an independent investigation found likely to have occurred.

Northwestern’s controversies over hazing and racism in its sports programs took me back to the time my brother laughed off a high school football coach’s racist digs toward him and his friend.