In February 2021, Northwestern University political science professor Elizabeth Shakman Hurd signed an open letter to the institution’s leaders expressing outrage over allegations of racism, sexism and harassment within the school’s cheer squad — all at the heart of a federal lawsuit filed weeks earlier by Northwestern senior Hayden Richardson.
“Many of us teach subjects associated with women’s history, gender and patriarchy, and their intersections with racism and imperialism,” the letter read. “We are frankly amazed that at the very time we teach our students about the detrimental effects of these phenomena on history and culture, the university where we work has obviously engaged in it in a blatant and illegal way.”
Hurd’s signature was the first on the letter, which was signed by 80 faculty members. Professors of history, African-American studies, anthropology, sociology, chemistry, English, art history, psychology, statistics and religion were among the signatories.
“We wanted to push the larger social context and the institutional context of what these students went through,” Hurd told me at the time. “We want to make sure the university comes up with a clear plan to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Whether it’s an ombudsman or some kind of alternative chain of authority or a place people can turn to and trust that they will be heard and that their scholarships and well-being as students will not be put at risk by telling the truth.
Now, the name of Hurd is on another open letter to the leaders of the North West-this time to support the students athlete following a hazing scandal that rocked the university, causing the ouster of the football coach Pat Fitzgerald, two legal proceedings (when writing these lines) and lawyers alleging that the players of North-West also been victims of trauma and abuse in their programs.
“We are appalled to find Northwestern Athletics embroiled in another major scandal involving allegations of sexual abuse and harassment as well as negligence or indifference among administrators and coaches,” reads the latest open letter. “We call on North West leaders to take immediate and comprehensive action to remedy the current situation and protect all student-athletes from future abuse.”
In an interview with Chicago Tribune reporter Megan Crepeauformer North West quarterback Lloyd Yates describe sexually abusive hazing rituals that included players dry-hitting other players and teammates being forced to perform naked in front of others.
“You have to realize that we’re 17 (or) 18-year-olds, young freshmen, really excited, really anxious,” Yates told Crepeau. “We hear these different stories, we try to fit in…in the moment, these are things we hear about, we don’t really think it’s true, we don’t think it’s going to happen to you. But, you know, it’s happened to me, and it’s happened to a lot of guys in the culture.
I called Hurd after reading the story.
“It’s not surprising at all,” she said. “I am saddened. So saddened. I am mortified. But I’m not surprised.
Hurd compared the allegations — and the university’s response to them — to other large, longstanding institutions whose power differences breed and bury abuse.
“If you think of the Catholic Church, for example, or other institutional cultures that have huge power differentials within their hierarchies that are very strictly enforced, that’s really the perfect recipe for that kind of situation.” she says. “There are bigger, deeper structural issues of which this whole scandal is a symptom.”
The allegations are horrific, heartbreaking and are spreading day by day. I asked Hurd where she would like to draw our attention.
“Everybody’s focus is on the lawsuits, that’s understandable,” she said. “We want justice done. My concern is that it might use all the oxygen in the room in terms of patience and bandwidth to talk about this story.
She wants broader, longer conversations about public accountability for an institution like Northwestern — a private university, but receiving millions and millions of federal dollars. She wants state and federal officials to intervene.
“Hazing is illegal in the state of Illinois,” she points out.
She wants us to focus, always, on the heroism and humanity of the students — those who spoke out about the alleged abuse, those who decide if it feels safe to tell what they’ve been through, those who cover the story and all its sad twists in the Daily Northwestern.
“We couldn’t clear this up if it wasn’t for their bravery,” she said. “They are the first constituency for us and those who concern us most and to whom we want to offer our solidarity. They are the ones who oppose a dominant culture that tries to silence them. They are the heroes of this story and the reason we are here.
As a parent, I know the joy, community and deep commitment that can come from athletics – it can come from being part of any team or group that leans on each other, pushes each other and grows with each other. I also know how both frightening and exhilarating it is to be new – at school, in the locker room, on stage, whatever form that stage takes.
Hearing stories of these poisoned, polluted, punishing regulated emotions, vulnerabilities and new beginnings – it crushes your soul. It breaks your heart. It breaks my heart.
The courage of the students helps to put the whole thing back together. It shouldn’t be their job or their burden, but here we are.
“We want to give them all the strength and solidarity in the world,” Hurd told me. “And also honor their humanity, their dignity and their privacy if they want to.”
In a rapidly changing history, where new wrongs seem to surface daily, this thing seems right.
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