Hazing of any kind is weird and counter-productive to team bonding
Northwestern's culture of hazing exposed and costly to person in charge
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – As I look back many years ago to college, it’s hard to believe that I was in a fraternity for two of my four years as a student.
That isn’t meant as disrespect to fraternities because they play a valuable role in the college experience, helping to make friends for life.
But those that know me best will understand when I say that I just wasn’t your typical frat guy.
I only joined because my closest friends that I had met during two years of living in a dormitory at Drake University had all joined the same fraternity.
We enjoyed being around each other, and many of us listened to the same music, and life was just one big party.
The fraternity I joined also had water beds built into the floor, and for a kid in college, that is the definition of cool, although, after about two weeks, I would’ve given about anything to sleep in a real bed.
I lasted for two years in a fraternity as we sort of just drifted apart my senior year.
Looking back, my biggest regret, besides having to climb up and down three flights of stairs to bathe in a filthy shower is that I allowed myself to be subjected to hazing as part of the initiation process to cap what was called Hell Week.
It was humiliating, embarrassing and belittling, but thankfully, it never became sexual in nature, unlike the reported hazing that occurred within the Northwestern football program, and that cost Pat Fitzgerald his job as head football coach.
My pledge brothers and I remained fully dressed during our hazing and it was more about being worked to the point of exhaustion than being forced to participate in nudity and sexualized acts of degrading nature, as is reportedly what happened within the Northwestern football program.
The purpose of hazing never has made much sense, whether in a football program or in a fraternity.
Hazing has been described as being part of a bonding experience that helps to build trust, respect and fraternal spirit.
But how does humiliating somebody with degrading acts help to strengthen a bond?
If anything, it has the opposite effect as it creates animosity and divison.
I remember thinking as I was being hazed that my father would’ve been so disappointed and a shame to see his son in that position.
That’s why I never told him about the experience.
The acts of hazing that reportedly occurred at Northwestern are weird, inexcusable, and gross.
Fitzgerald was almost considered untouchable at Northwestern given everything he has accomplished for the school, both on and off the field.
In addition to being a former star linebacker on Northwestern’s 1995 Big Ten champion team, Fitzgerald came to the rescue when former Northwestern head coach Randy Walker died suddenly of a heart attack on July 1, 2006.
Fitzgerald was promoted to head coach and would go on to hold the position until this past Monday when he was fired after 17 seasons.
He sustained a level of success at Northwestern, including winning two Big Ten West Division titles and playing in 10 bowl games, that distinguished him from most of the head coaches in program history.
But there was also plenty of hardship and struggle on the field, especially over the past two seasons as Northwestern combined to have a 4-20 record, including 1-11 last season.
It isn’t easy winning at Northwestern due to the high academic standards and limits with the transfer portal.

But Fitzgerald was willing to face those obstacles, and he stayed loyal to his alma mater when other jobs became available.
He also had won enough games over the years to be secure in his job.
Or, so we thought.
What started as a two-week suspension without pay this past Friday ended just three days later with Fitzgerald being fired.
His dismissal came a day after the Northwestern student newspaper, The Daily Northwestern, published a story that gave a detailed account about the alleged hazing incidents told by two former Northwestern players who asked to remain anonymous in the story.
Northwestern also hired an independent law firm to investigate the alleged hazing incidents, and after interviewing coaches, staff and current and former players, and after reviewing thousands of documents, the investigation revealed that the whistleblower’s claims were largely supported by evidence.
Fitzgerald has since hired a lawyer and he released a statement to ESPN in which he said he had “no knowledge whatsoever of any form of hazing within the Northwestern Football Program.”
A letter also was released in which current Northwestern players defended Fitzgerald and said the hazing accusations were exaggerated.
So, there could be a fight brewing since Fitzgerald is reportedly still owed about $42 million from his contract.
Northwestern fired Fitzgerald with basically the same information it had on the previous Friday when it had suspended him for two weeks without pay.
So, what changed besides the details getting out?
But even if Fitzgerald wasn’t aware of the alleged hazing incidents, that still is indefensible and inexcusable because the buck stops with him.
He either knew, or he didn’t.
Either way, Fitzgerald failed to perform his duties as head coach, and the Northwestern administration failed to take the appropriate action until they really had no choice.
And if the hazing accusations weren’t bad enough, the Daily also published a story on Monday that details claims of a culture of enabling racism with the football program.
Northwestern baseball coach Jim Foster also has been accused of bullying and abusive behavior in an article that was published in the Chicago Tribune.
The article about racism within the football program featured accounts from one former player on the record and from multiple anonymous sources.
Ramon Diaz Jr., who played for the school from 2005 through 2008, said, “I didn’t feel like I could be anything other than white. We never felt like we could be ourselves. We had to fit in by being white or acting white or laughing at our own people.”
His accusation is similar to some of the accusations that were made by former Iowa players in the summer of 2020.
The former Iowa players also described an environment in which the black players were forced to embrace what has been described as the Iowa way.
Unlike Fitzgerald, however, Kirk Ferentz managed to save his job as the Iowa head coach.

Ferentz avoided being fired probably because he had the unwavering support from Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta, and because Ferentz acknowledged having a blind spot and vowed to fix the problem, and because Ferentz had a scapegoat in former strength and conditioning coach, Chris Doyle.
Most of the accusations were directed at Doyle and then barely two weeks after the accusations had surfaced, Doyle reached a $1.2 million separation agreement and was terminated.
This past March, Iowa also reached a $4.2 million settlement between 12 Black former players and the football program.
Kirk Ferentz then released a statement in which he expressed his disappointment with the decision to settle, and with how it was reached.
“The settlement negotiations took place between plaintiff’s counsel and the Iowa Attorney General’s Office which represents the University of Iowa and the Board of Regents,” Ferentz said. “These discussions took place entirely without the knowledge or consent of the coaches who were named in the lawsuit,” Ferentz’s statement read. “In fact, the parties originally named disagree with the decision to settle fully believing the case would have been dismissed with prejudice before trial.”
The Big Ten Conference has certainly had more than its share of embarrassing and disturbing scandals dating back to the Jerry Sandusky child rape case at Penn State.
Northwestern’s handling of the accusations is suspect at best because it seems it tried to sweep it under the rug first by suspending Fitzgerald for two weeks at a time when many head coaches are on vacation, but then was forced to take stronger action in response to the article in the student newspaper.
You also wonder if Fitzgerald could’ve saved his job if Northwestern had combined to finish 20-4 over the past two seasons rather than 4-20.
It seems pretty apparent that the hazing wasn’t working at Northwestern considering how poorly the team performed in each of the past two seasons.
This appears to be yet another case in which a culture of silence was ultimately exposed.
There is a comfort level within some major college athletic programs that creates a sense of being untouchable and above reproach.
The Big Ten Conference will put on its best face when members of the media gather in Indianapolis later this month for the annul media day event.
It is supposed to be a feel-good event to mark the start of preseason football practice.
But this year’s event will feel different with Fitzgerald no longer coaching his alma mater, and with Northwestern the center of attention, but for all the wrong reasons.