Northwestern anti-hazing seminar: University to hold mandatory, in-person seminars due to the "distressing" situation

In his first interview since firing football coach Pat Fitzgerald, athletic director Derrick Gragg announced Northwestern anti-hazing seminars to be established.

He spoke to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg and made it clear that he wants to remove any hazing issues and support the student-athletes after the issues presented throughout the month.

"This entire situation, it's distressing. My heart goes out to everyone who's involved -- victims, of course -- but I also want to stress that we have many student-athletes who do the right thing and have always done the right thing, and coaches and staff as well.

"As the situation evolves, we're very serious about eradicating anything that's wrong, the president and the university."

There were multiple programs at Northwestern to deal with hazing scandals, as the football and men's baseball had issues. The university is facing four lawsuits from former players. Attorneys have also discussed possible lawsuits involving the soccer and softball programs as well.

"Sometimes people try to maybe scale things, but we have to ensure that student-athletes are properly bonding and that no one feels compelled or pressured to do anything that they don't want to do.

"There's no place for that. There's no place for hazing. There's no place for misconduct. If you're going to continue to build a positive culture, you have to eradicate it."

Apart from Northwestern anti-hazing seminars, the program is making sure their anonymous reporting of hazing or mistreatment works properly.

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Will the Northwestern anti-hazing seminars work as intended?

It's clear from an outsider's perspective that the Northwestern Wildcats athletic programs had issues. However, if these Northwestern anti-hazing seminars fulfill their intended purpose, it could be a massive boost for the program.

Nevertheless, that does not absolve the Wildcats athletic department and Derrick Gragg himself from all the criticism, as numerous programs within the institution had a similar issue.

If this is just eye-wash to try to remove the blame, though, that would be a shame. Athletic director Derrick Gragg is a smart guy, which should be a positive for the university as a whole, no matter the intentions behind starting the seminars in 2023.

Hopefully, the Northwestern anti-hazing seminars and new protocols in place mean there will be fewer issues for student-athletes. It's difficult to still paint the Northwestern Wildcats as anything but just doing what should have been in place for a while now.