Northwestern University’s $800 million stadium plan faces halt amid hazing scandal

The $800 million stadium project at Northwestern University is receiving more attention as investigators look into allegations of hazing in the school’s football program.

Residents of Evanston are requesting that the school “pause” the stadium project in response to a Daily Northwestern investigation that describes the racist culture and perverted hazing in the Northwestern University football program.

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This comes at the same time when Pat Fitzgerald’s tenure as the head coach of the Northwestern football team has come to an end, the school announced Monday. His two-week suspension from Northwestern was already in place as a result of an inquiry into program hazing.

The $800 million Ryan Field project, proposed by NU last year, aims to renovate the stadium, lower seating requirements and hold non-football events like concerts. However, since its announcement, the proposal has drawn criticism from nearby locals who have taken issue with the school’s lack of openness and its intention to use the stadium for commercial, non-football activities like concerts.

The Evanston Land Use Commission is now considering NU’s stadium project, and a public hearing will take place on August 9 as a result. If the stadium idea were to be put on hold, Revelle Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss would have to bring it to the council’s agenda as a special order.

Also Read: Who is Pat Fitzgerald? Northwestern University football coach suspended for two weeks

On January 11, Northwestern engaged ArentFox Schiff to look into complaints of misconduct made by a former athlete. ArentFox Schiff and the university finally released the report’s findings on Friday, July 7 after almost six months, concluding that hazing had indeed occurred in the Northwestern program.

The former athlete said in the report that “some of the hazing conduct investigated by the university involved coerced sexual acts” and suggested that Fitzgerald might have been aware of the hazing.

The player said that a habit known as “running” was at the heart of much of the hazing. Players were “restrained by a group of 8-10 upperclassmen dressed in various ‘Purge-like’ masks, who would then start ‘dry-humping’ the victim in a dark locker room” as part of “running” when they committed mistakes.

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Additionally, the player claimed Fitzgerald showed awareness of the practice through his use of hand signals. The player claimed that the assault was carried out “under the smoke and mirror of ‘oh, this is team bonding,’ but in reality, it was sexual abuse.”

The inquiry did not turn up any evidence that Fitzgerald knew about the hazing, but it was observed that “there had been significant opportunities to discover and report the hazing conduct.” Now that Northwestern has parted company with head coach Pat Fitzgerald, David Braun, the defensive coordinator, will lead the team while a search for an interim replacement is conducted.