Fitzgerald shouldn't get a pass on NU hazing

I have been a Daily Herald reader since the mid-1970s when I was a kid. I have enjoyed the Herald and have a measure of satisfaction in being a longtime subscriber to the paper that I grew up on. Today, I was embarrassed to be a Herald subscriber after reading Jim O'Donnell's column. Mr. O'Donnell wrote:

"There is one charge: 'Fitzgerald should have known' what was going on layers below him in the NU football program. Maybe, he also 'should have known' if each of his 100 or so players were brushing their teeth each night before bedtime and having their pizzas delivered piping hot."

Let's be clear about "what was going on."

What is alleged is that Northwestern players were stripped naked, held down and sexually assaulted. It is alleged that players were forced to brush their genitalia on their teammates. This alleged behavior happened not in some distant off-campus locale, but in the Northwestern football locker room. Mr. O'Donnell is telling his readers that a coach and educator has no responsibility to know what is going on in his locker room and whether or not his players are being hazed and sexually assaulted. Even worse, in Mr. O'Donnell's view that an educator and coach has no more responsibility to protect student athletes from being assaulted or to ensure that his players are not assaulting anyone than he does to make sure they are brushing their teeth. Given that the Herald has reported on hazing and sexual assault in high school locker rooms and observed its terrible impact, I am disappointed that the Herald editors found this acceptable. I hope that the Herald can do better. I know that its readers deserve better.

Tom Morel

Hoffman Estates