A group of tenured professors at Northwestern University is asking the school to halt work towards a new football stadium in the aftermath of a hazing investigation that led to the firing of coach Pat Fitzgerald this week.
In an open letter to the school’s president Michael Schill, Athletic Director Derrick Gragg and chair of the university board Peter Barris, the six professors say they are seeking to halt planning and marketing of a proposed $800 million stadium that would replace Ryan Field.
“We believe the university should halt that planning and marketing process until this crisis is satisfactorily resolved,” the professors said. “Over the past decade, Northwestern has made major and high-profile investments in athletics, but disturbing evidence of harassment and abuse – and high-level efforts to minimize those problems – suggest that we need to get the existing house in order before expanding it.”
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The letter was penned amid the fallout from an investigation into hazing allegations made against the football program. At least 11 current and former football players corroborated accounts of hazing and sexual abuse at the hands of teammates, and the fallout from that investigation led to the university’s decision to fire Fitzgerald on Monday.
While Northwestern has only released an executive summary of that report, the professors are also seeking for the full release of the investigation’s findings.
“It is essential to learn what was known by NU coaches, staff and administrators, and when, and what steps were taken or not taken to address hazing on the football team,” the professors said. “The broader community of NU students, staff, alumni, faculty and donors deserves to know what occurred, in part so that we can ensure it never happens again.”
Schill, in an open letter released Monday, said he has spoken to at least one of the players that levied accusations of hazing against the program, and said that he took full responsibility for the decision to fire Fitzgerald, whom the investigation found had missed “significant opportunities” to discover that the hazing was taking place.
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Fitzgerald has retained counsel in response to his termination, arguing that the school violated an agreement it had made with him in suspending him for two weeks following the release of the executive summary of the investigation.