A former Northwestern football player filed a bombshell lawsuit on Monday accusing the university of failing to stop rampant hazing on the team, and claiming that some members of the coaching staff were also aware of—and sometimes subjected to—the abuse.
In a 52-page lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, former quarterback Lloyd Yates alleges that he suffered unwanted sexual, physical, and emotional harassment while he was on the team from 2015 to 2018. During that time, the lawsuit alleges, Yates and his teammates were subjected to a hazing ritual centered around “running,” a practice used to punish usually younger team members for any mistakes on the field.
If a player was told to “run,” he would be forcibly restrained by his fellow players, who would rub “their genital areas against the teammates’ genitals, face, and buttocks while rocking back and forth without consent of the teammate,” the lawsuit states. And players were not the only ones subjected to this hazing.
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“On more than one occasion, assistant coaches were ‘ran’ by players,” the lawsuit states. “During a training session during the Fall of 2015 or Spring of 2016, a strength and conditioning coach was ‘ran’ by members of the football team, on the field, in front of the entire team and coaching staff.”
The lawsuit seeking damages in excess of $50,000 accuses the school of negligence, willful and wanton disregard for player safety, and a violation of Illinois’ Gender Violence Act—and alleges that assistant coach Matt MacPherson witnessed “acts of hazing” and did not stop or report it.
The filing is the latest lawsuit against the university after the school announced that an independent investigation found that team hazing incidents occurred both at the school and at off-campus practices at “Camp Kenosha” in Wisconsin. Head Coach Patrick Fitzgerald, who is accused by several former student athletes of at least knowing about the abuse, was fired from his long-held post two weeks ago.
“When I read the complaint, I was overcome with disappointment, frustration, and shame,” Yates said in a Monday press conference announcing the lawsuit. “We were conditioned to believe this behavior was normal, which is sickening and unacceptable.”
"I hope by speaking out, other athletes will be freed from the physical, emotional, and psychological trauma that I experienced as an athlete at Northwestern University,” he added.
Prior to the release of Yates’ lawsuit, Northwest president Michael Schill reportedly sent a letter to the campus community acknowledging the “national spotlight” that has been placed on the school amid the hazing allegations. But, he said, the “picture painted by some of these commentators of our program, our student-athletes, and the University itself is entirely inconsistent with the Northwestern we all know and love.”
“While there is no doubt in my mind that these shameful events did take place in the football problem, I also know that the vast majority of our student-athletes...are people of character who do amazing things both on the field and in the classroom,” he added.
The lawsuit filed on Monday, however, paints a very different picture.
In addition to “running,” Northwestern Wildcat players were also allegedly subjected to a slew of other harrowing mistreatments at training camp in Wisconsin. Players soon realized that they had been tapped for “running” after other members would clap their hands above their heads around the player. The clap was known as the “Shrek clap.”
“During their time at the Kenosha Camp, members of the Northwestern Football Program were subject to inappropriate activities within the Kenosha locker room, including but not limited to, the Shrek Clap, naked rope swings, naked pull ups, naked center and quarterback exchange, naked one on one drills, and naked pass rush drill,” the lawsuit alleges.
One player, who is identified in the lawsuit as John Doe 1, allegedly spoke out against “running” at the Kenosha Camp. As a result of his retaliation, John Doe 1 was allegedly put at the top of the “list” to be targeted for the hazing. Anyone who fraternized with him, the lawsuit states, would also allegedly meet a similar hazing fate. John Doe 1 was eventually sexually assaulted during the camp, the lawsuit states.
New members of the team were also allegedly required to watch a bizarre animated video of a man who declares his love for the animated character Shrek “in which the child’s father calls him a homophobic slur and the man recalls that as a nine-year-old, he had an explicit sexual encounter with ‘Shrek’ in his bedroom,” the lawsuit states.
Yates himself alleged that in August 2015 he was “ran” by upwards of 15 of his teammates during an off-campus preseason camp. The lawsuit alleges the incident occurred when Yates was called to do a “naked QB center exchange, where a naked center freshman Wildcat was bent over with his naked backside and genitals exposed to Yates.”
The lawsuit details another alleged incident in which a Black player was accused by a white coach of stealing a new pair of headphones, before the coach “laughed and walked away.” In another alleged instance, a white coach told a Black player he was not “actually black” because he was “quiet, smart, and mild mannered.”
After Colin Kaepernick famously knelt during the national anthem of a NFL game, Fitzgerald allegedly told one player he did not want him to follow Kaepernick’s lead. “The coach advised that taking a knee was a ‘distraction’ and that he would have to field a lot of questions and ‘would not get backing from the program,’” the lawsuit says.
While the lawsuit does not go into details about the hazing incidents that involved the coaching staff, it does note that MacPherson allegedly witnessed the naked pull-up hazing. The lawsuit also alleges that one player approached Fitzgerald in 2013 with concerns about the football team, but they were “disregarded.”
“Following the firing of Coach Fitz, many players, including Lloyd have received messages from former teammates or even current coaching staff that instruct that support for Coach Fitz needs to be shown by the team members,” the lawsuit states.
And the football program is not the only Northwestern sport accused of misconduct. On Monday, a former female volleyball player announced a lawsuit against the school, alleging the program was rife with bullying, physical “punishments,” and retaliation.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is a part of Yates’ legal team, said Monday that Yates’ suit was the first of dozens he plans to file in the coming weeks and months against the school.
“This will be acknowledged as college sports’ Me Too movement,” he said, adding that he wanted to see “the eradication of physical, psychological, and sexual hazing in college sports.”
“Northwestern violated its own zero tolerance for hazing,” he said.
