Hazing scandal highlights unhealthy athletic culture

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Tuesday, the 8th of August, 2023.

You’re listening to WORLD Radio and we’re so glad you are. Good morning! I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

First up on The World and Everything in It…when bonding with a team goes wrong.

Quick warning to parents…this story deals with some forms of abuse that may not be suitable for younger listeners to hear about. We don’t go into detail, but you may want to hit pause and come back later.

BROWN: Joining a sports team can involve some initiation activities for college athletes… to test their character and grit. But some teams go beyond testing into the humiliation of hazing.

That’s a practice that often involves abusive behavior, alcoholism, and even illicit sexual acts. Hazing’s billed as part of building solidarity and bonding as a team.

REICHARD: The NCAA reports that at least ¾ of college athletes undergo hazing.

Last month, Northwestern University fired football coach Pat Fitzgerald for turning a blind eye to the practice. Now, former Northwestern athletes are going public with their stories of abusive hazing.

WORLD Intern Alex Carmenaty brings us the story.

ALEX CARMENATY, CORRESPONDENT: Last month, Lloyd Yates became the first named football player to sue Northwestern in the school’s hazing scandal. He played quarterback for the Wildcats from 2015 to 2017. During a press conference, Yates spoke about abuse he experienced within the football program.

YATES: Upon arrival to campus, we were thrown into a culture where physical, emotional and sexual abuse was normalized…We were all victims, no matter what our role was at the time.

Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump filed the lawsuit on behalf of Yates. Yates is one of twelve former Northwestern athletes Crump represents.

CRUMP: It is apparent to us that it is a toxic culture that was rampant in the athletic department at Northwestern University

The hazing practices included making players do naked pull-ups and slap boxing them over the head. Yates detailed the approach he and many others took during their time with the Wildcats.

YATES: The culture was so strong that we felt we had to go with it to survive, to be respected, and to earn the trust within the football program.

The day after Northwestern fired football coach Pat Fitzgerald, Illinois State Representative Kam Buckner proposed a statewide bill aiming to protect athletes coming forward with allegations of abuse.

BUCKNER: There has been some work on trying to create a student athletes Bill of Rights here in Illinois the legislation that we're working on now regarding these allegations I wanted to pause what we were doing and come back and see if there were things that we can add that could protect student athletes in these situations.

A former football player at the University of Illinois, Representative Buckner never saw allegations coming from Chicago’s Big Ten school.

BUCKNER: What we saw, what we heard and what the allegations are saying about Northwestern to me they go behind hazing as I've said I think this these are true allegations This is assault on unwanted touching unwanted activity.

Bruce Stegner played college soccer in the 1980s at Hofstra University on Long Island. A high school and college soccer coach for more than 30 years, he's noticed a change in how athletes view hazing.

STEGNER: You know when I was an athlete it definitely was not as discussed, not as you know worrisome. There weren’t the guidelines and the rules or regulations that there are today.

The NCAA most recently updated its hazing guidelines back in 2016. New information details the dangers of sanctioned hazing practices, and how to report on them. Stegner thinks problems occur when precautions are not taken seriously.

STEGNER: In most universities, I believe you have a compliance and you have a department that also meets with the athletes and explains to them what the guidelines are. So when you have all those avenues and people are still either ignoring them, or, you know, not paying attention to them, or maybe it's not communicated enough in some situations, I guess it lends itself to potentially having problems.

Secular colleges aren't the only places where hazing plagues athletes. Brian Smith is an author and blogger who follows incidents of hazing on Christian campuses.

SMITH: As you dig into athletes' stories you hear, yeah, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. And in this particular case, one of the ugly instances was this former athlete who had an instance of multiple times she was raped as part of a college teams tradition.

Since Yates first came forward last month, Northwestern now has 10 hazing lawsuits filed against its athletic department. And the complaints go beyond the football team. Attorney Patrick Salvi Jr. represents former players from multiple programs.

SALVI JR: We know of course about the baseball coach, having been fired for bullying and intimidation and other wrongful acts…we've heard not only from volleyball players...Also softball men's soccer and we've heard stories from field hockey and other sports as well. So it seems to be a widespread problem that stretches all the way up throughout the athletic department and to the highest levels of the institution.

While the issue goes to the highest levels, the best solution will start on a much smaller scale.

SMITH: And that’s the idea of repentance is you're going one way and you stop and you go the other way. And so there, there needs to be something in the heart of athletes and coaches and in people surrounding sports where there's this conviction of this is wrong. This is an affront to the image of God. This is sinful.

Reporting for WORLD, I'm Alex Carmenaty.

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