Hazing's not just a Northwestern problem, and it all must be uncovered and ended
This editorial is a consensus opinion of the Daily Herald Editorial Board.
The Northwestern hazing and abuse scandal continues to expand. Former football players are coming forward with accounts of hazing going back decades. Northwestern's baseball coach was fired over allegations of abusive behavior. A former women's softball player now has legal representation. And this week, a former volleyball player sued the university.
Two attorneys who were the first to file lawsuits on behalf of players told the Chicago Sun-Times that the Northwestern University hazing scandal will be the biggest in the history of college sports in terms of the sheer number of athletes involved. True or not, even sadder is that this is not merely a Northwestern problem. In fact, another attorney representing former NU players has suggested players from other schools will come forward.
We're reminded that hazing persists through college sports, as well as in high school sports and other school-based activities, and much still must be uncovered.
As The Associated Press reported in a recent article about the pervasiveness of hazing, members of the Florida A&M marching band were convicted of manslaughter and felony hazing for the 2011 beating death of a bandmate. In 2021, a former player on a Minnesota high school football team got probation for assault with a toilet plunger.
Susan Lipkins, a psychologist and researcher who studies hazing, told the AP she believes incidents have increased in "frequency and severity, and in sexuality."
In a report over the weekend, we listed several cases here in the suburbs from 1996 to 2017 that included, among other things, beating, groping, smearing substances like urine and feces on and outright sexually assaulting classmates at high schools and Wheaton College.
It was heartening to see a former football player tell the Chicago Tribune of finding relief from Northwestern's hazing culture by transferring to a better one at Southern Illinois University in 2004, though he still cited some hazing at SIU - yes, making the freshmen carry the pads counts.
Indeed, students can be deeply harmed no matter the level of hazing. Natalie Graves, a sports social worker whose clients include hazing victims, told our Doug Graham that her clients suffer low self-esteem, poor performance and isolation, and sometimes decide to quit sports altogether. Attorney Anthony Romanucci, who represented student-athletes in hazing-related cases in our suburbs, said he saw the devastating effects of hazing in some of his clients. "They become afraid, have to go into special programs or move schools," Romanucci said.
The NCAA doesn't have rules regarding hazing, leaving it to state laws and schools, though it has given guidance on addressing hazing that cites statistics like 74% of student-athletes have experienced at least one form of hazing while in college. Maybe the laws and policies in place must be improved to be more effective; it appears in any case that enforcement is lacking. At the least, it's time to uncover all the hazing, at Northwestern and beyond, and end it.