Northwestern AD: Teams Took Misconduct Training 'Very Seriously' After Hazing Scandal

The Northwestern football team was required to undergo anti-hazing training in August after head coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired the month prior amid allegations of widespread hazing in the program.

And athletic director Derrick Gragg told reporters the team took the training session "very seriously."

"It was an intensive three-hour-session and [the consultants] said after about the first 10, 15 minutes, guys were relaxed, participating, understanding what they were supposed to do, and did everything that they were asked to do. I think everybody understands the importance of conducting themselves in a first-class manner, as it relates to being representatives of themselves, and their families and to this university. I think they took it very seriously."

Northwestern hired the consulting firm, Protection For All, ahead of the team's first preseason practice. The team also previously met with the Institute for Sport and Social Justice, which attempts to "create worldwide social justice through the power of sport."

More than 10 former players sued Northwestern, alleging a culture of hazing within Fitzgerald's football program. No current players were named in those lawsuits or implicated in Northwestern's investigation.

Three former baseball staffers and a former volleyball player have also sued the university on allegations of abuse.

In August, 86 former Northwestern athletes called for the firings of Gragg and university president Michael Schill, saying Fitzgerald's firing represented a lack of due process and "left a welcome mat out for the weaponization of sexual harassment, hazing, and racism allegations"

Another group of about 1,000 former athletes sent a letter around the same time that condemned hazing but added it wasn't the defining feature of Northwestern's athletic culture.

"The allegations being made are troubling and we support the University's efforts to fully investigate these claims," it read. "However, these allegations do not represent or define the overall athletics culture at Northwestern."