Former Northwestern University athletic director and current ACC commissioner Jim Phillips and university president Michael Schill are among several individuals dismissed from hazing lawsuits filed by former Northwestern athletes.
As reported by ESPN, which obtained the court documents outlining the dismissals, Phillips and Schill were named as defendants in a group of lawsuits brought by the former athletes, as were former athletic director Derrick Gragg, who now serves as the school's vice president for athletic strategy; former university president Morton Schapiro; and the school's board of trustees, among others.
The university and former football coach Pat Fitzgerald remain as defendants.
According to ESPN senior writer Adam Rittenberg, the board, as well as Phillips, Schill, Schapiro and Gragg, were voluntarily dismissed from 15 cases filed by former football players under the John Doe designation in August. The following month, Phillips, former strength and conditioning coach Jay Hooten, current strength and conditioning coach Alex Spanos and the board of trustees were voluntarily dismissed from cases filed by John Does. A separate group of cases dismissed former university president Henry Bienen, former athletic director Mark Murphy and the board as individual defendants.
Also, a lawsuit filed by former Northwestern football player Ramon Diaz, who alleged racial mistreatment and other hazing incidents, was voluntarily dismissed in June.
Fitzgerald, fired in July 2023, is suing the university for wrongful termination, seeking $130 million in damages. He has denied having any knowledge of alleged hazing activities inside the program.
In April, a judge announced that the hazing cases and Fitzgerald's claim will be heard together. A trial date for Fitzgerald's lawsuit is set for April 2025.
The defendant dismissals stem from cases filed by two Chicago-based firms —Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard and Romanucci & Blandin. Attorneys representing the individual defendants had filed motions to dismiss, based in part on there being no specific allegations against their clients.
Another batch of lawsuits from former Northwestern football players, filed by the Chicago-based Levin & Perconti firm, mostly named only Northwestern as a defendant, although three cases also included Fitzgerald, according to Rittenberg, who added that those cases are proceeding.
Related: Investigators Recommend Northwestern Enhance Hazing-Prevention Training
Schill has acknowledged that hazing occurred at Northwestern, which commissioned former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to conduct a review of how the athletic department detects and reports potential hazing or other misconduct. Lynch and her investigators released a report in June recommending that Northwestern enhance its hazing prevention training.
