At least 15 former Northwestern athletes to file suit in hazing scandal, attorney says

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Ben Crump, the prominent civil rights attorney representing several former Northwestern student-athletes after the recent revelation of a hazing scandal within the university’s football program, announced plans to file a lawsuit on behalf of at least 15 individuals claiming to have been subjected to physical, sexual and emotional abuse. 

Crump, joined by several former Northwestern athletes, spoke at a press conference Wednesday. He said he and co-counsel Steven M. Levin spoke with more than 50 student-athletes, including both men and women who said they experienced hazing at the university. 

Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald and the Wildcats before a game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium. (Jeffrey Becker/USA Today Sports)

"It is apparent to us that it is a toxic culture that was rampant in the athletic department at Northwestern University," Crump said. 

FORMER NORTHWESTERN PLAYERS RETAIN PROMINENT CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY AMID HAZING SCANDAL

"And what they shared with us was clearly a pattern and practice of a culture that was predicated on physical intimidation, harassment, discrimination, abuse, both mentally and sexually, and it was normalized."

Crump noted that some of the students involved in the alleged abuse were minors at the time. He also said he and other attorneys have received disturbing details from former baseball and softball players at the university, in addition to growing complaints of abuse in the football program.

Northwestern University head baseball coach Jim Foster heads back to the dugout for a game against Notre Dame at Wrigley Field in Chicago May 16, 2023. (John J. Kim/Chicago