Former Northwestern University football players filed new hazing lawsuits against the school on Thursday, and Green Bay Packers CEO and President Mark Murphy has been named as a defendant.
Murphy previously served as athletic director at Northwestern from 2003 to 2007. The former players, both listed as "John Doe," who filed the lawsuits, were at the school from 2004 to 2008, according to a press release. These are the first lawsuits to name Murphy as a defendant.
Both lawsuits also name now-fired and former coach Pat Fitzgerald, former university president Henry Bienen, and the school's board of trustees.
The lawsuits provide new hazing allegations, including Black players being forced to participate in a "watermelon eating contest." According to ESPN, the lawsuits outline hazing, sexual abuse, and racial discrimination that allegedly Fitzgerlad "knew" about and "encouraged." Former players allege they were restrained and dry-humped by older teammates during a hazing ritual called "running" during preseason training in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2004, ESPN reports.
A former player from 2014 to 2018 claims he engaged in a physical altercation to avoid being "ran" as a freshman in Kenosha, according to ESPN. He also claims to have seen other plays, as well as an unnamed assistant coach, "ran" several times.
TMJ4 News has reached out to the Green Bay Packers for comment and officials declined to. This is a developing story and will be updated.
