Northwestern University on Friday, July 7, suspended head football coach Pat Fitzgerald over allegations of hazing in the football program.

Fitzgerald has been placed on a two-week suspension without pay.

Also, as part of announced changes, football practices at “Camp Kenosha” in Wisconsin have been permanently discontinued.

An independent investigation was launched into allegations of hazing in the program received after the end of the 2022 season.

“Hazing in any form is unacceptable and goes against our core values at Northwestern, where we strive to make the university a safe and welcoming environment for all of our students,” said university President Michael Schill. “Our athletic programs are held to the highest standards, and in this case, we failed to meet them. I expect that today’s actions will prevent this from ever happening again.”

Fitzgerald said he would begin serving his suspension Friday.

“I was very disappointed when I heard about the allegations of hazing of our football team,” Fitzgerald said. “Although I was not aware of the alleged incidents, I have spoken to university officials; and they informed me of a two-week suspension, effective immediately.

“Northwestern football prides itself on producing not just athletes, but fine young men with character befitting the program and our university. We hold our student-athletes and our program to the highest standard; we will continue to work to exceed those standards moving forward.”

The outside investigation, launched in December, was led by Maggie Hickey of ArentFoxSchiff. Hickey, a former inspector general of Illinois, interviewed current and former players, as well as coaches and staff, and reviewed thousands of documents, according to Northwestern officials.

Hickey’s team found evidence to corroborate claims made by an anonymous whistle blower regarding hazing activities and events.

The university said that Hickey’s investigation found that while current and former players varied on their perspectives about the conduct, the whistle blower’s claims were largely supported by the evidence.

While the investigation did not discover evidence that the coaching staff knew about the ongoing hazing, the investigators said that there had been opportunities for them to discover and report the hazing conduct, according to the university.

In alignment with recommendations from ArentFoxSchiff, Northwestern will enact several measures to prevent future hazing, including monitoring of the football locker room and the implementation of new anti-hazing reporting processes and education programs for football players, coaches and staff.

Based on Hickey’s findings and recommendations, the university will take the following actions:

• Monitoring of the football locker room by someone who doesn’t report to the football coaching staff.
• An online reporting tool specifically for student-athletes to anonymously report incidents of potential hazing or hazing-related concerns.
• Annual mandatory anti-hazing training for all coaches, staff members and student-athletes, with an emphasis on reporting options, the duties to report, discipline for future violations and the fact that hazing is not acceptable regardless of consent.
• An internal working group comprising Northwestern leaders across various disciplines to create a report on policy development, organizational culture, communication, training and enforcement. The group will solicit input from external experts and will make their report open to the entire community.
• Better utilizing the annual student-athlete survey process to ensure coaches are aware of and act on student concerns.
• Working with the NCAA and Big Ten Conference to ensure all processes and rules are followed.

Derrick Gragg, vice president for athletics & recreation at the university, said Northwestern athletics prides itself on providing a world-class student-athlete experience, which includes a safe and respectful environment for all students, coaches and staff.

“We respect the courage of the individuals who came forward to make us aware of the issue; and we vow to do our part to create a more positive environment moving forward,” Gragg said.