5th ex-football player files suit vs

Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Elder WriterJul 27, 2023, 05:38 PM ET

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• College football reporter.
• Joined ESPN.com in 2008.
• Graduate of Northwestern University.Former Northwestern linebacker Simba Short became the 5th ex-football player to file a claim against the school, declaring he suffered psychological and psychological trauma after being hazed and bullied while in the program.Short, who played at Northwestern in 2015 and 2016 prior to clinically retiring, is the second previous player to determine himself in a claim against the school. He alleged he was sexually and psychologically mistreated while in the program, specifically after going through shoulder surgical treatment. The lawsuit alleges that former Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald “knew or must have known that gradually,’initiations’and ‘customs’in the Wildcat football program had turned into a culture of violent, intimidating, sexualized abuse and hazing and extreme psychological abuse.”Northwestern fired Fitzgerald on July 10, three days after revealing the findings of a university-commissioned hazing investigation into the program. Fitzgerald initially was suspended for just two weeks, as an executive summary of the examination mentioned that there was no proof that he learnt about the hazing incidents but did have the opportunity to learn more about them and report them. Fitzgerald, who became head coach in 2006, has stated he had no knowledge of any hazing within the program.Editor’s Picks 2 Related Short’s suit includes much of the exact same accusations as the claim filed by his previous Northwestern teammate, Lloyd Yates, consisting of the hazing ritual
  

  of”running,”where a group of

  players restrain one player and participate in dry-humping and other sexualized behavior. After returning to practice in the spring of 2016, Short declares that older players informed him he was “healthy enough to be ran.”According to the claim, Short was afraid of being” ran”after seeing another freshman”dunked upside down in the ice bath while other players’ran’ him while he was naked, upside down with his head underwater.”

  Short declares that despite his attempts to prevent upperclassmen, a small group of them limited him in the locker room while one of them” ran” him.The claim states Brief experienced a” psychological health crisis”that led resulted in a self-harm occurrence and a hospitalization in 2016. He specified that after the hospitalization, Fitzgerald recommended that he medically retire from the program.

  Short returned to Northwestern in 2019 and finished his degree in 2021. According to the claim, Short concerned Northwestern with an injury history and was told he would require surgery soon after his arrival. Brief alleges he and other injured players were typically bullied by coaches and players. The lawsuit does not call who bullied him.

  “Simba was a target of spoken bullying from both player and coaches and was typically referred to as an’eater and s– ter’since his worth to the group was nothing but consuming food and toilet area up until he was healthy,” the suit reads.Like Yates, Short does not

  identify any Northwestern players who led or took part in the hazing activities in his suit. Yates on Monday stated he considered all Northwestern players” victims” of a culture where he stated hazing became stabilized– even those who led hazing routines.

  Three unnamed former Northwestern players recently filed suits versus the school and current and former leaders, consisting of Fitzgerald, current president Michael Schill and current athletic director Derrick Gragg.” Simba entered Northwestern as an exceptional freshman, full of pledge on the football field and in the class,”lawyer Ben Crump said in a statement.”By the end of his freshman year, this abusive culture had broken him. We are looking for justice for him and other student professional athletes who were required to reside in worry and suffer at the hands of the university management. Simba is a hero of this MeToo motion of college sports, and we applaud him for advance to inform his story. “Crump, who is also representing Yates alongside the Chicago law firm Levin & Perconti, stated he expected to submit more than 30 claims against Northwestern from previous football players and professional athletes in other sports. Gragg informed ESPN the school would examine any hazing claims including particular people, which he was working to”

  get rid of” hazing from the athletic program.