In America we appear to be wildly inconsistent about hazing and how to respond to it. I happen to know two kids currently enrolled as Freshman at the US Naval Academy. Do they perform hazing? In the most generic sense, yes. They make it uncomfortable for the plebs for various reason with the ultimate goal of creating a strong minded person. Like many of you, I was in a Fraternity. Was there hazing? Of course. Fortunately, I would always categorize my experience as a "low level" hazing - cleaning, drinking, learning useless info, etc.
I was a Beta, which of course famously had a pledge die at PSU in 2017. Numerous brothers were blamed for the death in a court of law. To my knowledge, no one in the National or Regional leadership was directly penalized. Was it because they were "removed" from the situation? A common refrain is that "Fitz should've known" and he should pay the punishment. Given that logic I don't know how any Fraternity exists. My nephew, at a different school, was a pledge just a year ago, for a different fraternity. Even his Dad, a "brother" at the same chapter, was aware of the chapter's hazing practices applied to his son. Yes I assume most, if not all, fraternity situations are probably not as gross as the reported incidents in the NU locker room. That brings me to the next issue.
It frustrates me that numerous people have acknowledged hazing incident within the football team and it appears they did not attempt to elevate the issue. Without blaming the victim(s) I would like to explicitly know why they did report the issue. Some said something similar to "Fitz must've known". If he did nothing, then why did they not elevate to the AD, NCAA, State of IL? I know some of incidents were reported by players. I will regretfully admit their immaturity. The members of the staff, no matter how low their position, should have used their maturity and reported the issues. I wish they would not have assumed the problem would go away and intervened. I struggle with not finding them culpable. Regardless, asking why someone didn't report earlier, allows us better assess the culture prevalent in the locker room and the team. Maybe this will unveil issues with Fitz.
I listened to Barnett and he further cemented the idea that Fitz was Player's Coach to a fault. I suspect he had too much trust in his Leadership Council. In conjunction with his "open-door" policy, he thought that no major issues would occur. Sure he wanted strong team unity, but not to expense of the allegations where the team becomes fractured.
We have been told this hazing has occurred for many years. Returning to the question as to why was the reporting was only done recently, bothers me. I never played organized football in HS. I ran X-Country where we "hazed" ourselves by the miserable conditions of running. I sense that many of players experienced some hazing in HS. When at college, they could accept the elevated hazing to help develop the bonds and metal toughness akin to the millitary. This is just a theory, but given the words of praise by many former players for Fitz I would otherwise have a hard time resolving their experiences with hazing.
I believe many issues could have been resolved with better environment. I have worked in the Defense Industry for multiple decades. Every year we are required to have Ethics and Security Training, We must watch ethics vignettes based on real live industry situations. Our security training asks us to report issues. They train us for indications of a person potentially violating a security policy. The phone number to report Fraud, Waste and Abuse can easily be found either on signage around the facility. Although I wasn't directly involved, I knew a Manager that was accused of fraud. The company evaluated the accusations and decided to fire the Manager and several others associated with him. Uncannily, I heard the suspected whistleblower appeared to have issues with the Manager. The Manager sued my company and his pension was ultimately re-instated.
I brought that story up because it parallels the situation with the football team, but most importantly how our Culture was easy to report a potential issue. At a minimum, I hope NU can properly create a culture based on training and access such that no one feels discomfort from a hazing event. If they do have a hazing issue, they know it can be reported without any concern of potential retribution.
In summary, I suspect some elements of hazing will always exist. I wish we could normalize the response to hazing, but that's just dreaming. At a minimum, with annual training and an open culture to report problems this will not happen again at NU and other institutions.
