![]() ![]() Dwindling numbers saw less than nine players attend the first practice, according to the Moline Dispatch/Rock Island Argus, and the decision was made to forgo the season. ![]() Last week, the Pioneers informed the remainder of the WB6 they would not be fielding a girls softball team this spring. Both of these reviews will be conducted with feedback and engagement of faculty, staff and students, and both will be made publicly available.The Rock Island Alleman athletic department may finally have hit rock bottom, and it’s time for the Western Big 6 Conference to address it. “We also will examine the culture of Northwestern athletics and its relationship to the academic mission. “We will engage an outside firm to evaluate the sufficiency of our accountability mechanism, and to detect threats to the welfare of our student-athletes,” Yates wrote. Northwestern does not comment on pending litigation, but spokesman Jon Yates cited a series of recent initiatives including monitoring the football locker room, anti-hazing training and an online complaint site, with more to come. Schill wrote Tuesday that the university is working to ensure accountability for its athletic department. is Patrick Stinar, who has extensive experience with cases involving hazing or sex abuse at Michigan State and the University of Michigan. “When that goes on as long as it has, eventually the dam breaks.”Ĭo-counsel with Salvi Jr. “There clearly was not an effort to protect the student-athletes versus an effort to protect the university,” he said. Salvi Jr., said the accounts of athletes on different teams, combined with prior allegations of sexist mistreatment of former cheerleaders, suggests a widespread problem at the school. On July 13, the university dismissed Foster. The probe went on to conclude that Foster “made an inappropriate comment regarding a female staff member, and spoke negatively about his staff to other staff members.” Meanwhile, a separate controversy surfaced involving the baseball team and first-year head coach Jim Foster, who was the target of a human resources investigation last fall that found “sufficient evidence” he “engaged in bullying and abusive behavior,” according to an internal HR document obtained by the Tribune. The next day, the student newspaper, The Daily Northwestern, reported that two players described the hazing acts. The summary found that participation in or knowledge of the hazing was “widespread” in the football program” and “largely supported by the evidence,” with complaints dating back to 2014. The scandal broke July 7 when the university released an executive summary of an investigation of a student-athlete complaint of hazing in November 2022. They claimed that African-American players were forced to cut their hair and conform to “Wildcat” behavior, along with the other hazing incidents. Both suits were filed by Patrick Salvi Jr., on behalf of two Black former players who remained anonymous. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)Ī second lawsuit was filed Wednesday against Fitzgerald and the university, along with university President Michael Schill, former school President Morton Schapiro, the university board of trustees, athletic director Derrick Gragg, and former athletic director James Phillips, now commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference.Īn earlier suit was filed Tuesday. University officials have so far only briefly described the findings that led Fitzgerald to be first suspended for two weeks and later fired.įormer Northwestern football player Lloyd Yates departs after speaking July 19, 2023, alongside other former players and attorneys Ben Crump and Steven Levin about the abuse and hazing they say occurred in the program. ![]() Levin called on the university to release the investigation it conducted into hazing allegations. ![]() The attorneys are talking with three more female athletes about other alleged hazing experiences, he added.Ĭrump, a civil rights attorney known for taking on high-profile cases, said he plans to make the Northwestern hazing lawsuit a “landmark” case that sets a precedent for hazing incidents at college athletic programs across the country. It would have to be they were asleep at the wheel,” he said.Ĭrump and attorney Steve Levin said they have spoken with more than 50 former student-athletes, including some who were minors when they were allegedly sexually abused.Ī woman who played for a Northwestern team was allegedly “groped on and. “So, if the coach or coaches didn’t know, it would have to be malfeasance. ![]()
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