Hazing is firmly a thing of the past in the football world, but that unfortunately doesn’t mean that it still doesn’t happen from time to time.
That’s the allegation facing Northwestern right now, as the University has announced that it is in the process of investigating allegations of hazing in the football program.
Northwestern was made aware of these allegations after the 2022 season, and per Adam Rittenberg of ESPN, Athletic director Derrick Gragg just made the inquiry public to players and coaches within the program.
“While we do not yet know whether the allegations are true, hazing is prohibited by university policy, and we take these claims seriously,” Northwestern wrote in a statement. “The health, safety and well-being of our students is the first priority. The inquiry is in its very early stages and will be rigorously fair to everyone in this process. It will focus on gathering facts and will not jump to conclusions. Northwestern strongly supports members of our community who come forward with concerns and encourages anyone to report those concerns to the university.”
It’s worth noting that hazing can be anything as seemingly inconsequential as having freshmen get special haircuts to actual bullying. It’s not uncommon for rookies in the NFL to have to pay a big restaurant tab run up by the team’s veterans. That may be commonplace in the NFL and seen almost as a ritual, but that’s another example of hazing as well.
That type of hazing, in particular, isn’t commonplace in college football, but who knows where things stand now that players are actually making some money via NIL deals.
It’s no use speculating, though, because, at this time, Northwestern has not specified where the allegations came from or who they involved.
Either way, one would think Pat Fitzgerald, who has been head coach at Northwestern since 2006, will do everything he can to help root out the problem and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
