Pat Fitzgerald suspended two weeks in hazing investigation
Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald will be suspended two weeks without pay beginning immediately as one of the measures resulting from a hazing incident within the Wildcat program.
An investigation into the incident found the claims to be credible and, while there wasn't sufficient evidence coaches knew about the conduct, there were "significant opportunities to discover and report" the incident.
Fitzgerald's suspension was just one of the actions Northwestern took, according to a university statement issued Friday morning. In addition:
- Football practices at “Camp Kenosha” at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside as part of preseason camp will be permanently discontinued.
- The football locker room will be monitored by someone who doesn’t report to the football coaching staff.
- The university will create an online reporting tool for student athletes to anonymously report incidents of hazing or potential hazing.
- Coaches, staff members and student-athletes will take mandatory anti-hazing training with an emphasis on reporting potential violations.
- The university will form a working group of campus leaders to create a report on policy development, organizational culture, communication, training and enforcement, and make that report open to the entire community.
- The Northwestern Athletics Department will better utilize the annual student-athlete-survey process to ensure coaches are aware of and act on student concerns, and work work with the NCAA and Big Ten Conference to ensure all processes and rules are followed.
“Hazing in any form is unacceptable and goes against our core values at Northwestern, where we strive to make the University a safe and welcoming environment for all of our students,” said NU president Michael Schill. “Our athletics programs are held to the highest standards, and in this case, we failed to meet them. I expect that today’s actions will prevent this from ever happening again.”
According to a Northwestern executive summary, the school received an anonymous complaint about the incident on Nov. 30, 2022. The investigation was conducted by former Illinois inspector general Maggie Hickey, a partner at ArentFox Schiff LLP. The whistleblower was interviewed last December.
The complaint involved football players pressuring team members into participating in hazing activities, which often occurred in the locker room and may have started at Camp Kenosha.
More than 50 people were interviewed as part of the investigation, which included the review of "thousands of emails and player survey data dating back to 2014." Specific findings were not made public due to confidentiality rules.
While the investigation didn't find any specific misconduct by any individual football player or coach, hazing was found to be widespread. There wasn't sufficient evidence to believe that coaching staff knew about the ongoing hazing conduct, but there had been significant opportunities to discover and report the hazing conduct.