NFL News NFL News, Reports and Updates
Former Northwestern athletes share their experience with racism, hazing
Noah Herron was a football team captain in the early 2000s. He shared his personal experience with impact bias and racism while playing ball at Northwestern University.
Fox – 32 Chicago
Northwestern University has settled the 34 remaining lawsuits filed against it by former football players over allegations of hazing within the Wildcats’ program, according to court records obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
A judge in Cook County, Illinois formally closed the cases on May 6 and approved the creation of a settlement fund to distribute funds to the plaintiffs, but the details of the arrangement − including financial terms − are confidential. Many of the lawsuits had sought financial judgments of $100,000 or more apiece.
Spokespeople for the university and the plaintiffs’ attorneys involved in the lawsuits either declined to comment on the settlement or did not respond to messages.
Northwestern had signaled in a court filing last month that it was working to finalize a settlement with the former football players, ostensibly because such a resolution would pave the way for those players to serve as witnesses in the university’s other legal fight: A $130-million wrongful termination lawsuit filed by former football coach Pat Fitzgerald. That case is due to go to trial November 3.
“The student plaintiffs and other former players who have information about hazing are crucial to Northwestern’s defense of Fitzgerald’s claims,” the university’s lawyers wrote in a court filing last month. “And Northwestern is working hard to gather relevant evidence from them.”
Fitzgerald, who was fired for cause in 2023, has denied having any knowledge of hazing within the Wildcats’ football program.
The ex-players’ settlement comes nearly two years after the first plaintiff,…
Source link : https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/bigten/2025/05/09/northwestern-settles-34-lawsuits-over-football-hazing-allegations/82993006007/
Author :
Publish date : 2025-05-09 17:41:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
