Based on what we’ve read, there were likely many instances that could be defined as criminal sexual abuse. In Illinois, the age of consent is 17, which means that nobody appears be at risk of elevated penalties for committing these acts on a minor. (Not a lawyer, and I’ve spent 3 minutes researching.)
Yates
- Thread starter Sheffielder
- Start date
Have you read the Illinois anti-hazing statute? If the allegations were true, then clearly there was a criminal violation by the perpetrator(s).
Then they better start charging every high school and college AD/coach because that kind of childish nonsense goes on in many athletic locker rooms.
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Sexual abuse of an adult in Illinois requires force or the threat of force, and either penetration or "sexual conduct" (haven't found a definition for that in the law). (This is assuming it's not a superior/subordinate relationship, e.g., teacher/student). I think that will be hard to prove in court.
I don't see how anyone can continue to cling to the idea that Fitz really didn't know about this stuff.
I don't think this was Sheffielder's intention, but that comment brought this one to mind.
Barnett snapped at a reporter Tuesday who asked him about her abilities. "It was obvious Katie was not very good. She was awful," he said. "Katie was not only a girl, she was terrible. OK? There's no other way to say it."
The athletic success of the player at NU is not relevant.
It may be relevant to the question of motive for bringing these lawsuits after all this time. Were they really traumatized by the alleged hazing and if so why did the handfuls bringing these lawsuits wait until now to do so? Could their dissatisfaction with the lack of playing time and how their football dreams fizzled out be part of the motivation behind these lawsuits? A good lawyer could certainly make that argument and it will be interesting to see if all the players who join the lawsuit fit that mold of player whose playing career never went anywhere.
Oh, just shut up! You don't know WTF you're talking about and are embellishing on it.
These guys had visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads while be recruited. They were the man. These guys expected to play. The fact that these guys were terrible ( not mediocre) kept them off the field. Quite a hit to the ego. There are people that claim it is always someone else’s fault when they can’t do something.
We know Richardson was the Whistlebower, but was he hazed? Yates says he was hazed but again what specifically happened to Yates? A lot of unanswered questions but good ole NU rushed to correct an inadequate response without thoroughly investigating both sides of the story.
There's a huge difference between locker room craziness and what was happening here.
I wish you could see that all the things you are saying here are the same things said about abuse victims the world over.
"Why did they wait so long to say something?"
"They're probably just making it up or best embellishing something that was innocent"
"They're probably making it up to get back at him over something else"
"If they were really traumatised they'd have said something"
I have a good friend of mine who was at a going away party for a departing executive, who was known to be a bit of a "always in the gray area" creep. Said executive said to her husband, in front of both of them: "I bet she looks great naked"
She was so shocked/taken aback, you know what she did in response? She gave him a hug and said goodbye.
When she was recounting this story to me, she said she didn't know what came over her to give a hug. She was just in shock and heard that that is what abuse victims do sometimes. You might do strange things when confronted with something as shocking as being forced to perform naked in front of your teammates.
Sorry corbi, but all this victim blaming is not a good look. I don't know about you, but I bought into the whole "You're making a 40 year decision, not a 4 year decision, because most of you won't go to the NFL". Our players all react fondly about their time in the program because it is such an overwhelmingly positive experience.
I didn't hear, "Some of our players who don't get good playing time end up regretting their decision to be part of the team, and some of them are now making up stories and going public so they can be questioned by random people on the internet about their real motives"
Trib breaking a story quoting Lloyd Yates.
‘Degrading, dehumanizing, embarrassing:’ former Northwestern football player first to open up about alleged hazing ahead of planned lawsuit
Lloyd Yates hasn’t watched a football game in years. Friends and family always thought that was strange. After all, Yates was a “sports junkie” growing up, a star quarterback at O…www.chicagotribune.com
(I think a subscription is required to read)
My question: Do we think Yates is the "other" corroborating former player that has been previously referenced from the start, or do we think he is a newly-quoted party in this situation? I'm not discounting the merit of his statements either way, but I'm trying to discern if this is new news or a re-hashing of previously known information, since the media is fine with letting us just assume the worst of everything.
EDIT: Also references incidents at Kenosha, which would seem to align with the first round of details from the report.
No. This is new.
I am saying there are always two sides to the story and only one side is/has been considered in the rush to judgement. Do I think things happened that shouldn’t have happened? Absolutely. Do I think FItz turned a blind eye to it? Probably. Do I think any of the hazing alleged to have happened at NU really traumatized any of these players or rises to the level of what I think of when I think of sexual abuse? Absolutely not. Do i think most of the few handful of guys that are piling on now are doing it for the money or as an act of revenge because their football careers did not go as they expected and this is their opportunity to get back at the people and the program they blame for that? I absolutely do.
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How can you say "absolutely not" when it comes to whether they were traumatized, when you don't even know what really happened?
Not really. I think more than two sides exist and we heard heard three, four, ??? and they seem to be lining up…. Not he said / she said - it’s he said / they said.
Because it is my opinion. If these guys had truly been hurt by the hazing, they would have told someone about it and/or probably left school right away. None of them did. In my opinion that is not behavior that is consistent with someone who felt they were just subjected to a traumatic experience.
I get we are an innocent til proven guilty society, this seems like innocent and accuser is guilty attitude. I wonder if corbi extends this thought process to criminal courts or matters in politics too? I doubt it - well, maybe only for those that he favors. This is the problem of our society. So many seek different tiered justice systems. PF deserves all benefit of doubt and yates assumed to be evil….
What a crazy time to be alive.
I am pretty sure the details that have been publicly leaked constitute the worst spin on what transpired and so I am basing my opinion on that. If anything worse was being alleged, it would have already leaked.
No, just no. This is so far from what we have learned about people who are traumatized by sexual abuse. Why didn't all those young people abused by priests not speak up for decades? Precisely because they were traumatized, and because they thought no one would listen or believe them.
A snowball has a better chance in hell than Fitz attorneys letting him admit culpability.
You may be right but that’s not how I see it and I am not shy about expressing my views.
Can someone with a higher emotional IQ than I apparently have explain to me how a player who was traumatized by hazing at NU stays for not just four years, but decides to accept an invitation to come back to NU to play as a 5th year grad student as Warren Long apparently did?
Can someone with a higher emotional IQ than I apparently have explain to me how a player who was traumatized by hazing at NU stays for not just four years, but decides to accept an invitation to come back to NU to play as a 5th year grad student as Warren Long apparently did?
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