Ex-Northwestern player says hazing included sexualized acts - ESPN

A former Northwestern football player on Saturday detailed several hazing incidents within the program to The Daily Northwestern, with some involving sexualized acts led by upperclassmen to punish younger players for making mistakes in practices and games.

The former player, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Daily Northwestern that sexualized hazing activities took place in the team's locker room. One common practice, called «running,» involved a younger player being restrained while eight to 10 older players engaged in a sexualized act in the locker room. Versions of «running» took place during certain portions of the year, including Thanksgiving and Christmas.

«It's a shocking experience as a freshman to see your fellow freshman teammates get ran, but then you see everybody bystanding in the locker room,» the former player told The Daily Northwestern. «It's just a really abrasive and barbaric culture that has permeated throughout that program for years on end now.»

According to the newspaper, the former player reported his claims to the school in late 2022, and he spoke to investigators during a six-month, university-commissioned probe whose findings were released Friday.

Northwestern cited an «anonymous whistleblower» in its executive report of the investigation.

The school said the hazing claims could be «largely supported» and that «there had been significant opportunities to discover and report» what had happened, but investigators did not find enough evidence to prove coaches knew about the activities. Investigators also received varied perspectives on the conduct following interviews with current and former players.

Head coach Pat Fitzgerald was suspended Friday for two weeks without pay, one of several