Last week, a former Northwestern football player filed a hazing lawsuit under the John Doe pseudonym. Now, another former Northwestern player has sued in his own name.
Former quarterback Lloyd Yates has sued the school, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.
The 52-page complaint makes graphic and detailed allegations about sexualized hazing within the program. The names of multiple other player-victims are mentioned in the complaint; for now, none of them have filed lawsuits.
The full document is here. It details various practices of a sexual nature, from “running” to the “Shrek Squad” to the “Shrek Clap,” naked rope swings, naked pull ups, naked center and quarterback exchanges, naked one-on-one drills, naked pass-rush drills, the “car wash,” the “Kenosha rap battle,” and more.
The lawsuit accuses the school of negligence in the failure to prevent the sexualized hazing activities and other indignities, the failure to monitor the program, the failure to institute preventive measures, and more. The lawsuit also accuses Northwestern of reckless and intentional misconduct, along with violations of the Illinois Gender Violence Act.
Earlier this month, Northwestern suspended coach Pat Fitzgerald for two weeks, following a review of the program by an outside law firm. After media reports (spearheaded by the Northwestern school paper) emerged, the university fired Fitzgerald.