The scandal over Northwestern University’s football program continued this week. On Monday, three former football players spoke to the student newspaper, the Daily Northwestern, about the school’s infamous football program. The former student-athletes described a “culture of enabling racism” on the team.
The news comes after earlier reporting from the Daily alleging serious hazing. Ramon Diaz, a former offensive lineman from 2005 to 2008, described a culture of hostility towards non-white players like himself.
“I didn’t feel like I could be anything other than white,” Diaz, who is Latino, told The Daily. “We never felt like we could be ourselves. We had to fit in by being white or acting white or laughing at our own people.”
The alleged racist incidents had a lasting impact on Diaz, who says he’s still going to therapy to deal with the trauma. He says he was subjected to racist jokes from a coach about his family cleaning houses and was once made to shave “Cinco de Mayo” into his hair freshman year during an annual tradition.
Another player who spoke anonymously to the student outlet said that Black players were asked to cut off long hairstyles such as dreadlocks. However, he said that white players were allowed to keep their longer hairstyles. The player said that coaches said they wanted players to embody “good, clean American fun.” Players who didn’t comply were allegedly told by the head coach Pat Fitzgerald to “check your scholarship.”
Hazing has been a central part of the allegations against Coach Fitzgerald, who was fired on Monday after decades of coaching the team. And players who spoke to the Daily said that their allegations of racism were a part of that pattern. “The racist stuff… the stuff that refers to how Black players are treated, in my mind, that was a form of hazing,” said one of the anonymous players.
Diaz says he witnessed much of the racism towards Black players, citing an incident where a player asked a Black teammate to show him “how a monkey acts.”
The school, which fired Fitzgerald on Monday, has responded to the allegations. “The alleged ‘racist commentary and behavior toward non-white players’ by Coach Fitzgerald and members of his staff would be entirely unacceptable and inconsistent with our culture and values, if true,” University spokesperson Jon Yates told the Daily. “As we do with any allegation, we will immediately address the accusations, and any findings will be considered.”
As for the man at the center of these allegations, Fitzgerald, he released a statment denying any wrong-doing. “The overwhelming majority of players we coached, 99% to be precise have provided positive feedback that affirms our efforts,” wrote Fitzgerald in a statement to ESPN. “Attorney Maggie Hickey conducted a thorough investigation spanning several months into the allegations that led to my termination. Her investigation reaffirmed what I have always maintained — that I had no knowledge whatsoever of any form of hazing within the Northwestern Football Program.”