Northwestern publishes report by Loretta Lynch on culture of athletics

[mshelton33]

Northwestern releases report on athletics accountability and culture, implementation plans

Northwestern University today released the full report by law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, which has spent the past 11 months conducting an independent review of the processes and accountability mechanisms in place at the University to detect, report and respond to...

news.northwestern.edu

 

[FeralFelidae]

Thud.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Northwestern releases report on athletics accountability and culture, implementation plans

Northwestern University today released the full report by law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, which has spent the past 11 months conducting an independent review of the processes and accountability mechanisms in place at the University to detect, report and respond to...

news.northwestern.edu

Fitz is going to be very wealthy!

 

[phatcat]

Fitz is going to be very wealthy!

A comment from TOS

"That probe did not find "sufficient" evidence that the coaching staff knew about ongoing hazing but concluded there were "significant opportunities" to find out about it." That's the most important part in terms of protecting themselves legally. The probe found that Fitz should have known, and now they have evidence of that in court.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

A comment from TOS

"That probe did not find "sufficient" evidence that the coaching staff knew about ongoing hazing but concluded there were "significant opportunities" to find out about it." That's the most important part in terms of protecting themselves legally. The probe found that Fitz should have known, and now they have evidence of that in court.

An after-the-fact CYA report commissioned by the NU administration does a lot of work trying to do CYA? Weird. Never would have guessed.

EDIT TO UPDATE: where does it actually say that in the report? I did a quick search and didn’t find it.

 

[rogerkim]

A comment from TOS

"That probe did not find "sufficient" evidence that the coaching staff knew about ongoing hazing but concluded there were "significant opportunities" to find out about it." That's the most important part in terms of protecting themselves legally. The probe found that Fitz should have known, and now they have evidence of that in court.

Are your quotations of "sufficient" and "significant opportunities" from the Loretta Lynch report? Like @gocatsgo2003, I was unable to find mention of these phrases in either the Executive Summary or the full report.

 

[phatcat]

Are your quotations of "sufficient" and "significant opportunities" from the Loretta Lynch report? Like @gocatsgo2003, I was unable to find mention of these phrases in either the Executive Summary or the full report.

It's a straight copy/paste of another guy's comment.

 

[rogerkim]

It's a straight copy/paste of another guy's comment.

Can you provide the source link?

 

[Just Gary]

An after-the-fact CYA report commissioned by the NU administration does a lot of work trying to do CYA? Weird. Never would have guessed.

EDIT TO UPDATE: where does it actually say that in the report? I did a quick search and didn’t find it.

It’s not in the report.

There were two parts of the report I found interesting.

The first is the fact that “the sports administrator is the initial point of contact on all issues related to their respective sports program”. Sports administrators are members of the athletic department staff. The sports administrator is then responsible for bringing issues related to bullying or hazing to the attention of the coach.

The second is where it talks about lack of written rules and changing norms have made coaches hesitant about enforcing any team disciplinary actions and that has led to student-athlete leadership enforcing the team disciplinary rules.

No where in the written University or Athletic department policies does it say the coach must proactively seek out issues reported to the University or athletic department concerning their program. In fact, the report clearly states that per University policy on hazing, any athletic department staff member who receives a complaint about hazing must report it directly to the University. It also states that coaches do not talk to any non-athletic staff to avoid the appearance of influencing the academic status of student-athletes.

It seems that people on staff who received any complaint about hazing should have told the sports administrator (who should have reported any issue to the coach) and the university. It is not clear whether, the sports administrator for the football program was given any information. Somewhere in there, the system failed and it seems like it is pointing toward the athletic department for failure to investigate and notify when they receive complaints. I’m beginning to wonder if the Gragg move, a week before the report was made public, was a response to the report itself. They will never say it, but the timing is oddly coincidental.

 

[CatManTrue]

Northwestern releases report on athletics accountability and culture, implementation plans

Northwestern University today released the full report by law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, which has spent the past 11 months conducting an independent review of the processes and accountability mechanisms in place at the University to detect, report and respond to...

news.northwestern.edu

The truth: this report is a crock of shit paid for by Northwestern’s BOT.

Fitz, Gragg, and Schill all deserved to be fired. Only one was.

Bring it on, baby.

 

[curdog]

Northwestern releases report on athletics accountability and culture, implementation plans

Northwestern University today released the full report by law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, which has spent the past 11 months conducting an independent review of the processes and accountability mechanisms in place at the University to detect, report and respond to...

news.northwestern.edu

Jesus, what a colossal waste of money. I thought some people here assumed this report would ID some of the perpetrators of this alleged scandal. Fitz is gone, nothing to see here.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

The truth: this report is a crock of shit paid for by Northwestern’s BOT.

Fitz, Gragg, and Schill all deserved to be fired. Only one was.

Bring it on, baby.

Well you basically have 2 of the 3 on your hit list.

This certainly doesn’t hurt Fitz’s lawsuit. Back up the truck NU.

 

[stpaulcat]

FORMER athletics culture.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

A comment from TOS

"That probe did not find "sufficient" evidence that the coaching staff knew about ongoing hazing but concluded there were "significant opportunities" to find out about it." That's the most important part in terms of protecting themselves legally. The probe found that Fitz should have known, and now they have evidence of that in court.

Found it… this is a quote from Rittenberg’s piece, referring to the initial investigation before Fitz’s hire.

Report: NU should improve anti-hazing training

Investigators found room for improvement when it came to preventing hazing during a yearlong review in the wake of a scandal that rocked Northwestern athletics.

www.espn.com

 

[gocatsgo2003]

It's a straight copy/paste of another guy's comment.

Should probably then provide proper context. Wasn’t even referring to the Lynch report.

 

[curdog]

Should probably then provide proper context. Wasn’t even referring to the Lynch report.

The guy compared this situation to what transpired at PSU under paterno. He’s delusional.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

FORMER athletics culture.

What are you talking about? You attached a cut and paste that wasn’t related to the new report?

 

[JimStarr777]

NU is coming out of this looking awful. I hope Fitz gets as much $$ as he possibly can. They did him so dirty after he dedicated his life to the school.

 

[stpaulcat]

What are you talking about? You attached a cut and paste that wasn’t related to the new report?

I didn't attach anything. I was simply suggesting that the current football program is certainly clean under Braun. I said nothing about Fitz's program.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

The absolute bedwetters that run our school took some minor issue and a critical article from some wannabe muckraker student journalists and panicked their way into nearly melting down our entire athletic department and losses that may still reach NINE figures.

What absolute morons.

 

[curdog]

The absolute bedwetters that run our school took some minor issue and a critical article from some wannabe muckraker student journalists and panicked their way into nearly melting down our entire athletic department and losses that may still reach NINE figures.

What absolute morons.

It really is astonishing what has transpired at other schools (Iowa racial issue as well as the intense training session that hospitalized several players, Brian Kelly getting a student manager killed due to negligence) and the HC keeps his job while this “scandal” cost Fitz his job and more importantly for him, his reputation. Just total and complete mismanagement by everyone involved.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

It really is astonishing what has transpired at other schools (Iowa racial issue as well as the intense training session that hospitalized several players, Brian Kelly getting a student manager killed due to negligence) and the HC keeps his job while this “scandal” cost Fitz his job and more importantly for him, his reputation. Just total and complete mismanagement by everyone involved.

Don’t forget that POS Franklin and all the skeletons in his closet.

 

[curdog]

Don’t forget that POS Franklin and all the skeletons in his

Was not familiar but googled James Franklin scumbag. Yikes.

 

[Gatabowl]

Those guys should have been fired too.

 

[CatManTrue]

Well you basically have 2 of the 3 on your hit list.

This certainly doesn’t hurt Fitz’s lawsuit. Back up the truck NU.

Fitz is unemployed.

Are Gragg and Schill? How is your math 2 out of 3 on this? Mine is only 1 (33%).

2 would be 67% - still a failing grade.

3 = 100%. A+.

We’ll see what happens with the courts.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Fitz is unemployed.

Are Gragg and Schill? How is your math 2 out of 3 on this? Mine is only 1 (33%).

2 would be 67% - still a failing grade.

3 = 100%. A+.

We’ll see what happens with the courts.

Gragg is not in the same position. To argue he is making any meaningful contribution to NU athletics is naive. My Math says 66.6%.

We all know why both Schill and Gragg haven’t been formally termed. Lawsuits. Neither will see an extension of their contract. Two incredibly poor hires.

This report is useless to everyone, especially NU when defending the firing of Fitz. I wish I got hired to do this report as I could have told you the same thing with little effort, I will up the pages from 5, and take a few hundred thousand off the bill. Fitz will buy the first round.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

"That probe did not find "sufficient" evidence that the coaching staff knew about ongoing hazing but concluded there were "significant opportunities" to find out about it."

"significant opportunities to find out about it."

Seriously? Thats the standard?
Any parent will tell you thats total nonsense.
If one of my kids is cheating on exams, I'm supposed to figure that out?
You either know or you don't.

 

[phatcat]

"significant opportunities to find out about it."

Seriously? Thats the standard?
Any parent will tell you thats total nonsense.
If one of my kids is cheating on exams, I'm supposed to figure that out?
You either know or you don't.

I don't know the details of the former coach's contract, but mine is pretty clear and common: "knew or should have known". Nothing more, nothing less. As a Manager/Director, it is my job to know if one of my team members is being abused, and, I surmise that my employer would find me particularly culpable if there were "significant opportunities to find out".

Now, we are just a bunch of old guys flailing at each other in a dusty corner of the internet, but it's a bad look to be playing the "Joe didn't know" card.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

I don't know the details of the former coach's contract, but mine is pretty clear and common: "knew or should have known". Nothing more, nothing less. As a Manager/Director, it is my job to know if one of my team members is being abused, and, I surmise that my employer would find me particularly culpable if there were "significant opportunities to find out".

Now, we are just a bunch of old guys flailing at each other in a dusty corner of the internet, but it's a bad look to be playing the "Joe didn't know" card.

only if Joe knew.

the phrase "significant opportunities to find out" is so weak, its meaningless.
It doesn't even measure up to "should have known."

Its basically ass-backwards. It starts with the misbehavior, then blames the person who would normally resolve the misbehavior.
Nothing works that way.

 

[curdog]

"significant opportunities to find out about it."

Seriously? Thats the standard?
Any parent will tell you thats total nonsense.
If one of my kids is cheating on exams, I'm supposed to figure that out?
You either know or you don't.

We don’t even know what really happened. Why are there no pitchforks to find and punish the perpetrators, some of whom are likely still on the team? Fitz gone, problem solved I guess.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

We don’t even know what really happened. Why are there no pitchforks to find and punish the perpetrators, some of whom are likely still on the team? Fitz gone, problem solved I guess.

If a football player went up to a nerd outside of tech and started dry-humping him, I'm gonna take a wild guess that he'd face disciplinary action.

Northwestern's apparent unwillingness to enforce its own supposed anti-hazing policies seems to say the offenses were not serious enough to warrant punishment of the perpetrators. I realized that on day 2 and I still can't reconcile it. (thats why I wondered if the official anti-hazing policy may not apply to athletics)

 

[CMcCat]

We don’t even know what really happened. Why are there no pitchforks to find and punish the perpetrators, some of whom are likely still on the team? Fitz gone, problem solved I guess.

This is the wobbly card that makes the entire house collapse.

 

[Just Gary]

If a football player went up to a nerd outside of tech and started dry-humping him, I'm gonna take a wild guess that he'd face disciplinary action.

Northwestern's apparent unwillingness to enforce its own supposed anti-hazing policies seems to say the offenses were not serious enough to warrant punishment of the perpetrators. I realized that on day 2 and I still can't reconcile it. (thats why I wondered if the official anti-hazing policy may not apply to athletics)

This is what bugs me about the whole matter. If there was any evidence that Fitz knew and was covering it up, then it changes the whole matter. His office is not near the locker room People said he should have known but that is the public impression of the head coach’s job and not reality. Practice is over and he entertains the media, talk with boosters, head backs to his office, sends texts to recruits, meet with his coordinators, plans for the game, talks shop with other coaches, watches film, and meets with different people from the athletic department. Those people are to inform the coach about everything like trip logistics, ncaa requirements, upcoming events, bowl projections, financial budget, PERSONNEL ISSUES, and a thousand other things. He may meet with the captains at some point. Unless someone told him, he will not know. Even if he does go to the locker room, everyone would be on the best behavior when he is there. It feels more like he was the scapegoat for the athletic department who had staff members who were told or who witness these events and did nothing about it.

 

[Gatabowl]

We don’t even know what really happened. Why are there no pitchforks to find and punish the perpetrators, some of whom are likely still on the team? Fitz gone, problem solved I guess.

I have my pitchfork up.

 

[NUCat320]

This report covers nothing about the facts of what happened in the football locker room.

This reports says “things are mostly good but you need better policy manuals.”

I hope the anonymous ex-athlete Open Letter writers weren’t offended by Loretta Lynch’s highly politicized report.

 

[FeralFelidae]

This report covers nothing about the facts of what happened in the football locker room.

This reports says “things are mostly good but you need better policy manuals.”

I hope the anonymous ex-athlete Open Letter writers weren’t offended by Loretta Lynch’s highly politicized report.

I'm offended by the waste of money that went into producing this thing. There are starving children in Africa.

 

[CMcCat]

“Insularity of the Athletics Department.”

This phrase captures why I am slowly slipping away from Northwestern fandom. Yes, you may argue that student athletes at NU were always apart from the rest of the student body. You may argue that greater physical separation existed in the past than today.

However, with the mega conference, BTN money, NIL schemes, unconstrained and frequent transfers, the student-athlete experience will resemble that of the mainstream student less and less as the future unfolds.

Lynch tries to spin insularity as a good thing.

No, not a good thing.

 

[Just Gary]

“Insularity of the Athletics Department.”

This phrase captures why I am slowly slipping away from Northwestern fandom. Yes, you may argue that student athletes at NU were always apart from the rest of the student body. You may argue that greater physical separation existed in the past than today.

However, with the mega conference, BTN money, NIL schemes, unconstrained and frequent transfers, the student-athlete experience will resemble that of the mainstream student less and less as the future unfolds.

Lynch tries to spin insularity as a good thing.

No, not a good thing.

I agree with that. At the moment, it still resembles the student-athlete model outside of the very elite. I’m going to stick around until it becomes too different or until I die, whichever comes first.

 

[EvanstonCat]

The truth: this report is a crock of shit paid for by Northwestern’s BOT.

Fitz, Gragg, and Schill all deserved to be fired. Only one was.

Bring it on, baby.

Agree with this although Fitz deserved it more for his woeful on the field performance.

 

[phatcat]

Agree with this although Fitz deserved it more for his woeful on the field performance.

But...but...he hired Braun and things were sure to turn around!!!
/s in case it is not clear